Highly Efficient Hydrogen Production using Bi2O3/TiO2 Nanostructured Photocatalysts Under Led Light Irradiation

• Main Authors: Lakshmana Reddy, N., Krishna Reddy, G., Mahaboob Basha, K., Krishna Mounika, P., Shankar, M.V.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Hydrogen Production; Nanocomposites; Photocatalysis; UV-LED light; Water splitting
• ISSN: 2214-7853; 2214-7853
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2016.04.014

Photocatalytic water splitting (PWS) is one of the cleaner processes for molecular hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) production using semiconductor nanocomposites as efficient photocatalysts. Herein, we report hydrothermal synthesis and modification of Bi2O3 deposited TiO2 nanostructures (Bi-TNS), its water splitting performance under UV-A LED (λ = 365 nm, 20 W) light irradiation. Characterization data reveals that calcined photocatalyst (TNS) have single crystalline anatase TiO2 with mixed morphologies viz., nanotubes, nanorods and nanoparticles. The TEM and DR UV-Vis spectra of Bi2O3 deposited TiO2 composite photocatalysts confirmed anatase phase TiO2 besides mixed morphologies. A dedicated off-line gas chromatograph equipped with molecular sieve column and TCD detector utilized for analysis of H2 and O2 gases. Under optimized conditions, Bi0.5TNS composite showed enhanced rate of H2 production 3,601 μmol.h-1 g-1cat which is much higher than standard TiO2 P-25 nanoparticles. These results illustrated the advantage of nano-size effect of TiO2 and Bi2O3 for enhanced H2 production. Stability of catalyst under light irradiation (100 h) shows that Bi-TNS is a promising photocatalyst for enhanced H2 production using industrial by-product glycerol as scavenger.