Visible-light driven photocatalytic hydrogen generation on eosin Y-sensitized Pt-loaded nanotube Na2Ti2O4(OH)2

A novel and highly efficient photocatalyst, Eosin Y-sensitized Pt-loaded nanotube Na2Ti2O4(OH)(2) (NTS), was found to be very active for hydrogen generation in triethanolamine (TEA) solution under visible-light irradiation (lambda >= 420 nm). The catalyst was prepared by impregnation photo-deposition method, and characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and solid-state diffusion reflectance UV-vis spectra (UV-vis DRS) techniques. The catalyst showed a long-term stability for photocatalytic H-2 generation over 100 h after consecutive 10 runs, up to 14.97% of quantum yield was achieved under visible-light irradiation. The effect of loading amounts of platinum, pH value, the mass ratio of Eosin Y to NTS (E/N), the wavelength of incident light on photocatalytic activity for hydrogen generation, and the reaction mechanism were investigated in detail. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.