Synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions

Photocatalytic hydrogen production via water splitting is one of the most feasible approaches to address the environmental issues associated with global warming such as carbon emissions. Water splitting has gained the most research attention in recent years, especially in the development of potentia...

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Main Author: Goh, Sin Yee
Other Authors: Xue Can
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/166694
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author Goh, Sin Yee
author2 Xue Can
author_facet Xue Can
Goh, Sin Yee
author_sort Goh, Sin Yee
collection NTU
description Photocatalytic hydrogen production via water splitting is one of the most feasible approaches to address the environmental issues associated with global warming such as carbon emissions. Water splitting has gained the most research attention in recent years, especially in the development of potential photocatalysts that could exhibit an efficient hydrogen production rate. In this study, mesoporous titanium dioxide (M/TiO2) will be synthesized to serve as a substrate material with palladium (Pd) and copper (Cu) nanoparticles (NPs) being incorporated as dopants to improve low light absorption efficiency and increase the number of catalytic active sites. It is well known that titanium (TiO2) has a wide bandgap that ranges from 3.0 to 3.2 eV and a quick electron hole recombination rate, which limit its wide application as a photocatalyst. In the past decades, most research has only focused on doping TiO2 with monometallic components, which is still insufficient to improve its overall photocatalytic activity. The effect of bimetallic materials nanostructures in enhancing the hydrogen production rate is still not well explored. Therefore, the functionality of bimetallic NPs on TiO2 photocatalyst will be investigated to ascertain how the two different metallic components affect the production of hydrogen gas. The mesoporous TiO2 with large surface area and highly crystallized anatase structure was first synthesized via sol-gel method in this study by adjusting the amounts of surfactant and water. Subsequently, Cu, Pd and PdCu metallic NPs were doped onto TiO2 to construct a M/TiO2 hybrid for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). To achieve better photocatalytic activity, several key parameters such as the kind of precursors, loading weight and calcination temperature were investigated through a series of control experiments. According to characterization and test results, as-prepared PdCu/TiO2 exhibit much higher photochemical activities (1317.08 μmol ∙ g-1∙h-1) than that of pure TiO2, which was ascribed to the enhanced light absorption ability and lower recombination rate of electrons and holes.
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spelling ntu-10356/1666942023-05-13T16:46:26Z Synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions Goh, Sin Yee Xue Can School of Materials Science and Engineering CXUE@ntu.edu.sg Engineering::Materials::Nanostructured materials Photocatalytic hydrogen production via water splitting is one of the most feasible approaches to address the environmental issues associated with global warming such as carbon emissions. Water splitting has gained the most research attention in recent years, especially in the development of potential photocatalysts that could exhibit an efficient hydrogen production rate. In this study, mesoporous titanium dioxide (M/TiO2) will be synthesized to serve as a substrate material with palladium (Pd) and copper (Cu) nanoparticles (NPs) being incorporated as dopants to improve low light absorption efficiency and increase the number of catalytic active sites. It is well known that titanium (TiO2) has a wide bandgap that ranges from 3.0 to 3.2 eV and a quick electron hole recombination rate, which limit its wide application as a photocatalyst. In the past decades, most research has only focused on doping TiO2 with monometallic components, which is still insufficient to improve its overall photocatalytic activity. The effect of bimetallic materials nanostructures in enhancing the hydrogen production rate is still not well explored. Therefore, the functionality of bimetallic NPs on TiO2 photocatalyst will be investigated to ascertain how the two different metallic components affect the production of hydrogen gas. The mesoporous TiO2 with large surface area and highly crystallized anatase structure was first synthesized via sol-gel method in this study by adjusting the amounts of surfactant and water. Subsequently, Cu, Pd and PdCu metallic NPs were doped onto TiO2 to construct a M/TiO2 hybrid for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). To achieve better photocatalytic activity, several key parameters such as the kind of precursors, loading weight and calcination temperature were investigated through a series of control experiments. According to characterization and test results, as-prepared PdCu/TiO2 exhibit much higher photochemical activities (1317.08 μmol ∙ g-1∙h-1) than that of pure TiO2, which was ascribed to the enhanced light absorption ability and lower recombination rate of electrons and holes. Bachelor of Engineering (Materials Engineering) 2023-05-09T01:50:48Z 2023-05-09T01:50:48Z 2023 Final Year Project (FYP) Goh, S. Y. (2023). Synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions. Final Year Project (FYP), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/166694 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/166694 en application/pdf Nanyang Technological University
spellingShingle Engineering::Materials::Nanostructured materials
Goh, Sin Yee
Synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions
title Synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions
title_full Synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions
title_fullStr Synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions
title_full_unstemmed Synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions
title_short Synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light-driven chemical reactions
title_sort synthesis of metal semiconductor hybrid nanostructures for light driven chemical reactions
topic Engineering::Materials::Nanostructured materials
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/166694
work_keys_str_mv AT gohsinyee synthesisofmetalsemiconductorhybridnanostructuresforlightdrivenchemicalreactions