Photocatalytic hydrogen production from aqueous methanol solution with CuO/Al2O3/TiO2 nanocomposite

Abstract The photocatalytic hydrogen production from aqueous methanol solution was investigated with ZnO/TiO 2 , SnO/TiO 2 , CuO/TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 and CuO/Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 nanocomposites. A mechanical mixing method, followed by the solid-state reaction at elevated temperature, was used for the preparation of nanocomposite photocatalyst. Among these nanocomposite photocatalysts, the maximal photocatalytic hydrogen production was observed with CuO/Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 nanocomposites. A variety of components of CuO/Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 photocatalysts were tested for the enhancement of H 2 formation. The optimal component was 0.2 wt% CuO/0.3 wt% Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 . The activity exhibited approximately tenfold enhancement at the optimum loading, compared with that with pure P-25 TiO 2 . Nano-sized TiO 2 photocatalytic hydrogen technology has great potential for low-cost, environmentally friendly solar-hydrogen production to support the future hydrogen economy.