Photocatalytic hydrogen production from water splitting under visible light Irradiation using sensitized mesoporous-assembled perovskite photocatalysts

Abstract

The photocatalytic water splitting is a promising process for producing hydrogen, which is an alternative energy resource. Hydrogen can be produced from two major sources of renewable energy, i.e. water and solar light, with the aid of a suitable photocatalyst. In this work, a combination of sensitizer addition and noble metal loading was employed to modify perovskite photocatalysts in order to achieve the enhancement of photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light irradiation. The dependence of the hydrogen production on type of perovskite photocatalysts (MgTiO₃, CaTiO₃, and SrTiO₃), calcination temperature of photocatalyst, type and concentration of electron donor (diethanolamine, DEA and triethanolamine, TEA), sensitizer concentration (Eosin Y, E.Y.), photocatalyst dosage, and initial solution pH, was studied. The experimental results showed that the 0.5 wt.% Pt-loaded mesoporous-assembled SrTiO₃ prepared by single-step sol- gel method calcined at 650°C exhibited the highest photocatalytic hydrogen production activity from a 15 vol.% DEA aqueous solution with dissolved 0.5 mM E.Y. Moreover, the optimum photocatalyst dosage and initial solution pH for the maximum photocatalytic activity of hydrogen production were 6 g/1 and 11.6, respectively.