Efficient photothermal catalytic hydrogen production over nonplasmonic Pt metal supported on TiO2

Most of the traditional photocatalytic hydrogen productions were conducted under room temperature. In this work, we selected nonplasmonic Pt metal anchored on TiO2 nanoparticles with photothermal activity to explore more efficient hydrogen production technology over the whole solar spectrum. Photothermal experiments were carried out in a carefully designed top irradiated photocatalytic reactor that can withstand high temperature and relatively higher pressure. Four typical organic materials, i.e., methyl alcohol (MeOH), trielthanolamne (TEOA), formic acid (HCOOH) and glucose, were investigated. Formic acid, a typical hydrogen carrier, was found to show the best activity. In addition, the effects of different basic parameters such as sacrificial agent concentration and the temperature on the activity of hydrogen generation were systematically investigated for understanding the qualitative and quantitative effects of the photothermal catalytic reaction process. The hydrogen yields at 90 °C of the photothermal catalytic reaction with Pt/TiO2 are around 8.1 and 4.2 times higher than those of reactions carried out under photo or thermal conditions alone. We can see that the photothermal hydrogen yield is not the simple sum of the photo and thermal effects. This result indicated that the Pt/TiO2 nanoparticles can efficiently couple photo and thermal energy to more effectively drive hydrogen production. As a result, the excellent ability makes it superior to other conventional semiconductor photocatalysts and thermal catalysts. Future works could concentrate on exploring photothermal catalysis as well as the potential synergism between photo and thermal effects to find more efficient hydrogen production technology using the whole solar spectrum.