Effect On Photocatalytic Activity Of Water Splitting By Loading Cocatalysts

One of the effective approachs to solve Energy crisis andenvironmental issue is to develop a clean and sustainable new energyresources by using the photocatalysis technology to transform solar energyinto hydrogen energy. The major of research was the effect onphotocatalytic activity of photocatalyst loaded with different cocatalysts,which play an important role in photocatalytic reaction to improvephotocatalytic performance.The theme of photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen waseconomy and efficency. The non-noble metal copper was loaded on TiO2as the cocatalyst by photodeposition method to meet economyrequirements. Prior to exmine the catalytic activities, the Cu/TiO2photocatalytic materials were characterized by XRD, DRS, TEM and BET.These Cu nanoparticles were observed to be well dispersed into uniformitysize on the surface. The Cu/TiO2prepared by photodeposition methoddisplayed better photocatalytic performance than the one synthesized byimpregnation method and got the highest activity for hydrogen evolutionwith2.4wt%Cu loading. Cu/TiO2prepared by different copper sourceswere investigated. Cu(OAc)2had a positive effect on photocatalyticactivity with94%hydrogen production of noble metal Pt loaded on TiO2.The CdS which can absorb the visible light was prepared byhydrothermal method and it was loaded with both NiS (as reduction activesite) and PdS (as oxidation active site) to investigate the effectphotocatalytic activity of sulphide cocatalyst. The sample loaded with bothNiS and PdS displayed better photocatalytic performance than the one justloaded with NiS and its photocatalytic activity was as25times as CdS. Even NiS-PdS/CdS influenced by the solar incident angle and intensity itshowed great photocatalytic performance under solar irradiation.The Z-type system was researched to avoid the use of sacrificialreagents. The TaON was prepared by high temperature ammonia nitrogenmethod and it was loaded with Pt by impregnation method. A Z-typesystem including TaON for hydrogen production, Pt/WO3for oxygenproduction and NaI as electron mediator was further studied. It can splitwater into hydrogen and oxygen simultaneously. Bi0.5Y0.5VO4wasprepared by high temperature solid phase method for comparison. AnotherZ-type system composed with Bi0.5Y0.5VO4for hydrogen production,BiVO4for oxygen production and NaI as electron mediator.It can also splitwater into hydrogen and oxygen at the same time under visible lightirradiation (λ>400nm), and the ratio of H2to O2was1:1.1.