High-Efficiently Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Production over Zn-Incorporated Nanotubes

Gayoung Lee, Min-Kyeong Yeo, Myeong-Heon Um, Misook Kang
2012 International Journal of Photoenergy  
To investigate the Zn dopant and nanotube morphology effects of TiO2in electrochemical hydrogen production from the photo-splitting of methanol/water solution, we have designed a Zn-incorporated TiO2nanotube (Zn-TNT) photocatalyst. The TNT and Zn-TNT materials had a width of 70~100 nm. The hydrogen production over the Zn-TNT photocatalysts was higher than that over the TNT; specifically, 10.2 mL of H2gas was produced after 9 hours when 0.5 g of 0.01 mol% Zn-TNT was used. The zeta-potential
more » ... s in aqueous solution determined by electrophoretic light scattering (ELS) had negative surface charges, which was related to the surface stability, and the absolute value was the largest in 0.01 mol% Zn-TNT. On the basis of UV-visible and photoluminescence (PL) spectra results, the high photoactivity of Zn-TNT was attributed to the shift toward the visible region and increase of PL intensity due to the increased number of excited electrons and holes.
doi:10.1155/2012/843042 fatcat:465egyuadjdqjc7tkzvbmqftcq