Titania-silver Based Nanomaterials for Hydrogen Production via Water Splitting

Undergraduate #54
Discipline: Chemistry and Chemical Sciences
Subcategory: Water
Session: 3
Room: Park Tower 8219

Carla M. Colón Cruz - Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Recinto Gurabo
Co-Author(s): Machín, A., Universidad Ana G. Méndez-Gurabo Campus, Puerto Rico; Fontánez, K., Universidad Ana G. Méndez-Gurabo Campus, Puerto Rico; Soto-Vázquez, L., Materials Characterization Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Resto, E., Materials Characterization Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Morant, C., Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Márquez, F., Universidad Ana G. Méndez-Gurabo Campus, Puerto Rico

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A potentially viable way to eliminate fossil fuels is to produce hydrogen from water by combining solar energy and heterogeneous photocatalysis. For these reasons, the objectives of this investigation were: 1) synthesize high surface area TiO2 nanowires (NWs) catalysts in the rutile phase; 2) incorporate different amount of silver nanoparticles on the as-synthesized catalyst and on the commercial form of TiO2 (P-25) using a chemical reduction method; and 3) produce hydrogen via water splitting using visible and UV light. The hypotheses of the study were: a) catalysts with higher surface will produce the largest amount of hydrogen, and b) the silver nanoparticles will enhance the hydrogen production and will allow the use of visible light. Interestingly, the incorporation of silver nanoparticles on the titania surface enhanced the surface area in both P25 and TiO2 NWs. The hydrogen production obtained by using Ag@P25 catalysts was measured to be 653 μmolg-1h-1 under irradiation at 500 nm and 1,119 μmolg-1h-1 using Ag@TiO2 NWs at the same wavelength. Both of the hypotheses were verified and all the objectives achieved. The characterization of the synthetized compounds were performed by: 1) X-ray diffraction (XRD), 2) Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), 3) Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area, and 4) UV-vis spectroscopy. The results of this study open the possibility to design green technologies contributing to the development of new and more efficient catalysts, and the development of alternatives for the production of clean and renewable energy.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): PRLSAMP; NASA

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Francisco Márquez, fmarquez@suagm.edu

Role: 1) synthesize high surface area TiO2 nanowires (NWs) catalysts in the rutile phase. 2) incorporate different amount of silver nanoparticles on the as-synthesized catalyst and on the commercial form of TiO2 (P-25) using a chemical reduction method. 3) produce hydrogen via water splitting using visible and UV light.