Photocatalytic hydrogen production from butanol reforming using Ag2O/TiO2 composite catalysts: Effects of AgxO and TiO2 precursors on the activity of the composite catalysts

Abstract

The Ag x O/TiO 2 composite catalysts with different silver and TiO 2 precursors were prepared viasol-gel and subsequet incipient wet impregnation method. The samples were characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-Ray diffractometer (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV–vis/DRS. The activity of the samples was tested for photocatalytic hydrogen production from butanol reforming using a solar simulator. The Ag x O/TiO 2 catalyst prepared with silver nitrate precursor displayed higher activity compared to the other prepared catalysts using different silver precursor. Furthermore, the Ag x O/TiO 2 prepared with a TTIP precursor displayed the highest activity compared to the P25 sample and the other sample. The excellent activity was attributed to the uniform dispersion of Ag x O nanoparticles on the surface of TiO 2 particles; efficient light-harvesting, suppression of electron/hole recombination, and the crystallinity of the prepared sample. • A highly active Ag 2 O/TiO 2 composite catalysts was prepared. • Butanol was successfully reformed photocatalytically into hydrogen. • The effects of TiO 2 and Ag precursors were studied. • TTIP and AgNO 3 precursors produced highly active photocatalyst. • 0.5 wt% Ag 2 O/TiO 2 exhibited impressive activity than 0.5wt.%Ag 2 O/P25.