The effect of cellulose loading on the photoactivity of cellulose-TiO2 hybrids for hydrogen production under simulated sunlight

This work reports the use of cellulose-TiO2 hybrids as photocatalysts for hydrogen production from aqueous ethanol solutions under simulated sunlight. The influence of cellulose loading on hybrids incorporated by impregnation was studied. The cellulose-TiO2 hybrids were characterized by elemental analysis (CHNS), thermo-gravimetric (TGA), N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV vis, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results show that cellulose loading influence on the physico-chemical properties and on photoactivity of cellulose-TiO2 hybrids for H-2 production from ethanol solutions. All hybrids show a significant increase in the H-2 production rate respect to that achieved on bare TiO2. The H-2 production rate over cellulose-TiO2 hybrids depend on the cellulose coverage on TiO2, achieving the better photoactivity the hybrid formed with intermediate cellulose loading. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.