Sub-10 nm anatase TiO2 nanoparticles for rapid photocatalytic H2 production from lignocellulosic biomass

Photocatalytic H-2 production from lignocellulosic biomass represents an ideal conversion path for the green utilization of lignocellulosic biomass as an energy resource, but the lack of efficient photocatalysts resulted in poor H-2 production activity for photocatalytic lignocellulosic biomass-to-H-2 conversion. The achievement of high photocatalytic H-2 production activity is primarily limited by the low OH generation rate resulting from the limited active sites related to the small specific surface, and partly restricted by the slow kinetics of H-2 generation reaction. Herein, we design and prepare sub-10 nm anatase TiO2 nanoparticles as high-reactive photocatalysts for photocatalytic lignocellulosic biomass-to H-2 conversion by using Pt nanoclusters (Pt NCs) as the cocatalyst. Owing to the abundant active sites for OH generation resulting from the large specific surface of sub-10 nm TiO2 and the fast H-2 generation kinetics of Pt NCs, the optimal Pt NCs/TiO2 shows a high photocatalytic H-2 production activity in cellulose solution with the highest H-2 generation rate of 540 mu mol h(-1) g(-1) and an apparent quantum yield of 4.1% at 380 nm. Furthermore, the H-2 generation rate of the optimized Pt NCs/TiO2 photocatalyst achieves 2, 6, 25, 39, 10 and 2 mu mol h(-1) g(-1) in rice straw, corncob, polar wood chip, bamboo, rice hull and wheat straw aqueous solution, respectively. This study provides new insight into the design of highly-efficient photocatalysts for photocatalytic lignocellulosic biomass-to-H-2 conversion systems.

Automated summary

Sub-10 nm anatase TiO2 nanoparticles and Pt nanoclusters were used as photocatalysts for lignocellulosic biomass-to-H-2 conversion. The optimized Pt NCs/TiO2 catalyst showed high photocatalytic H-2 production activity due to the large specific surface of sub-10 nm TiO2 and the fast H-2 generation kinetics of Pt NCs. This study provides new insight into the design of highly-efficient photocatalysts for lignocellulosic biomass-to-H-2 conversion systems.