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Concurrent Hydrogen Production and Hydrogen Sulfide Decomposition by Solar Photocatalysis
Author(s) -
Ruban Priya,
Sellappa Kanmani
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
clean – soil, air, water
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1863-0669
pISSN - 1863-0650
DOI - 10.1002/clen.201400563
Subject(s) - hydrogen production , hydrogen sulfide , photocatalysis , decomposition , hydrogen , photocatalytic water splitting , production (economics) , materials science , chemistry , environmental science , photochemistry , catalysis , water splitting , sulfur , metallurgy , economics , organic chemistry , macroeconomics
Core–shell (CdS–ZnS)/TiO 2 nanoparticles (TiO 2 – core, CdS–ZnS − shell) were synthesized and their photocatalytic activity for hydrogen generation was compared with CdS, ZnS, and CdS–ZnS nanoparticles and TiO 2 nanorods. Physical characterization of the catalysts was carried out for particle size, molecular vibrations, band gap energy, specific surface area, and binding energy. Based on the results, core–shell formation between CdS–ZnS and TiO 2 was established. The CdS–ZnS/TiO 2 core–shell NPs exhibited high rates of hydrogen generation (29 mL/h) from water containing sulfide and sulfite ions. Photocatalytic generation of hydrogen with CdS–ZnS/TiO 2 core–shell nanoparticles was investigated by optimizing various operating variables as, e.g., the sulfide ion concentration, sulfite ion concentration, pH, catalyst concentration, light intensity and recycle flow rates in a 1 L laboratory scale tubular photoreactor. The maximum kinetic constant of 0.0038 min −1 was found at 0.05 M sulfide ion, 0.2 M sulfite ion, pH 11.3, and 500 mg/L photocatalyst. A final conversion of 30% was achieved under optimized conditions. This is a cleaner production method for generating H 2 and also an environmentally benign process.