An overview on semiconductor particulate systems for photoproduction of hydrogen

Hydrogen, a clean energy carrier, should be produced from not the irreproducible fossil fuels but renewable resources. Currently hydrogen is mainly produced by the reforming of petroleum and natural gas at high temperature, which consumes huge energy. Thus, development of an alternative hydrogen production method is absolutely imperative to mitigate the environmental and energy issues. Photocatalytic hydrogen production from water and renewable resources is one of the attractive systems, since it can utilize the solar energy. In this short review, we remind you that the systems of the photocatalytic hydrogen production from water and biomass derivatives, such as ethanol, glycerol, sugars and methane, should be considered as available candidates for the hydrogen production method from renewable resources and solar energy, and these systems have been improved by developments of new photocatalysts with some cocatalysts, modifications of photocatalysts, optimization of reaction conditions, and so on.

Heterogeneous photocatalytic hydrogen production from water and biomass derivatives

Mechanism of the Photocatalytic Oxidation of Ethanol on TiO2

The diffusion of hydrogen atoms across solid oxide surfaces is often assumed to be accelerated by the presence of water molecules. Here we present a high-resolution, high-speed scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study of the diffusion of H atoms on an FeO thin film. STM movies directly reveal a water-mediated hydrogen diffusion mechanism on the oxide surface at temperatures between 100 and 300 kelvin. Density functional theory calculations and isotope-exchange experiments confirm the STM observations, and a proton-transfer mechanism that proceeds via an H3O+-like transition state is revealed. This mechanism differs from that observed previously for rutile TiO2(110), where water dissociation is a key step in proton diffusion.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/336/6083/889.full.pdf

I. Ait-Ichou

Papers

Photocatalytic dehydrogenation of isopropanol on Pt/TiO2 catalysts