Comparative study on the photocatalytic hydrogen producton from methanol over Cu, Pd, Co and Au loaded TiO2

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen production from a methanol-water solution was investigated in a semi-continuous reactor over different metal-loaded TiO2 catalysts under UltraViolet (UV) light irradiation. The catalysts were mainly prepared by the incipient wetness impregnation method by varying the metal weight ratio in the range of 1-10 wt%. The effects of metal loading and H2 pre-treatment on the photocatalytic activity were investigated. In addition, the activity of the catalysts was also compared with a reference Au-TiO2 catalyst from the World Gold Council (WGC). The photocatalysts were characterized by using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and N2 physisorption before and after the activity measurements. The photocatalytic activity decreased in the order of Pd > Au > Cu > Co in the comparative study of Cu-TiO2, Co-TiO2, Au-TiO2 and Pd-TiO2. Optimum hydrogen evolution was achieved with 5 wt% Pd-TiO2 and 5 wt% Cu-TiO2.