Flame-Made Cu/TiO2 and Cu-Pt/TiO2 Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Production

Abstract

The effect of Cu or Cu-Pt nanoparticles in TiO 2 photocatalysts prepared by flame spray pyrolysis in one step was investigated in hydrogen production from methanol photo-steam reforming. Two series of titanium dioxide photocatalysts were prepared, containing either (i) Cu nanoparticles (0.05-0.5 wt%) or (ii) both Cu (0 to 0.5 wt%) and Pt (0.5 wt%) nanoparticles. In addition, three photocatalysts obtained either by grafting copper and/or by depositing platinum by wet methods on flame-made TiO 2 were also investigated. High hydrogen production rates were attained with copper-containing photocatalysts, though their photoactivity decreased with increasing Cu loading, whereas the photocatalysts containing both Cu and Pt nanoparticles exhibit a bell-shaped photoactivity trend with increasing copper content, the highest hydrogen production rate being attained with the photocatalyst containing 0.05 wt% Cu.

Photocatalytic Reforming for Hydrogen Evolution: A Review

“…Bernareggi et.al. investigated Cu and Pt commodified TiO2 on photocatalytic reforming of methanol [46]. The ternary composite, Cu-Pt-TiO2 exhibited excellent production rate of H2, which was 23.6 mmol h −1 gcat −1 .…”

Titanium Dioxide Photocatalysis

“…Bernareggi et al [16] report a strategy based on flame spray pyrolysis to produce Cu-and Cu-Pt-modified TiO 2 for photocatalytic hydrogen production. An optimal loading of 0.05% Cu was found for the most active photocatalyst, which only contained Cu.…”

Simultaneous Control over Lattice Doping and Nanocluster Modification of a Hybrid CuOx/TiO2 Photocatalyst during Flame Synthesis for Enhancing Hydrogen Evolution

“…Moreover, metal ions can also serve as shallow charge trapping sites and thus reduce electron‐hole recombination rate. Among various elements doped so far into TiO 2 , Cu has been considered to be important owing to the narrow band‐gap energies of its oxides (CuO possesses 1.4 eV and Cu 2 O possesses 2.2 eV) and their high light absorption coefficients . More than that, surface cluster modification through copper has been proven to be an effient tool for promoting charge separtion …”