Photocatalyst for Solar Generation of Hydrogen via Cu/Ti02 Catalyst

• Main Author: Sreetharan, Nisha
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2009
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9103/1/2009%20-%20Performance%20Analysis%20of%20Turbocharger%20in%20Diesel%20Engine.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9103/

Photocatalyst process has drawn the attention of many researches at present time as it has tremendous potential in near future. To be more specific, semiconductor mediated photocatalysis has been a subject of vigorous academic research for the past 30 years as its application towards the environmental sector is crucial. As far as this project is concern, the main aim is to produce hydrogen via Photocatalysis using visible light with the aid of suitably supported semiconductor in a water-glycerol system. Cu is incorporated onto titanium dioxide (Ti02) for the reduction of water (H20) in the presence of sacrificial agents. CuO component which dominates in the anatase phase of Cu/Ti02, acts as the water reduction site which promotes charge separation. The catalyst is prepared using wet impregnation method and studies were conducted on the effect of various amounts of CuO content and calcinations temperature with respect to hydrogen production. Apart from that, several techniques are used to characterize the properties of the prepared catalyst which includes TPR, SEM, XRD and TGA. Since the oxidation of water by holes is a slow process, hole scavengers or sacrificial agents are introduced to expedite the process. The sacrificial agents reacts irreversibly with the photogenerated holes suppressing the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes on the semiconductor surface leading to higher photocatalytic H20 reduction to H2• iv