Hydrogen Production from Methanol/Water Photocatalytic Decomposition Using Pt/TiO2-xNx Catalyst

Nitrogen-doped titanium oxide powders were synthesized by the two-microemulsion technique and used as a support for Pt toward photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Two solutions of microemulsion with same water/oil (w/o) ratio were mixed together to form a slurry of titania precursor, one contains Ti4+ ions chelated with citric acid aqueous droplets and the other has aqueous ammonia droplets. After the consecutive procedures of evaporation, drying, calcination, and grinding, the nanosized TiO2-xNx or Pt/TiO2-xNx photocatalysts were obtained. The synthesized nanosized photocatalysts were then utilized to produce hydrogen by photocatalytic methanol/water splitting in visible light. The effects of Pt loading content, methanol/water ratio, and pH of the methanol/water solution on the performances of the photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution were investigated.