TY - JOUR
T1 - A novel membrane reactor for separating hydrogen and oxygen in photocatalytic water splitting
AU - Yu, Szu Chun
AU - Huang, Chao Wei
AU - Liao, Chi Hung
AU - Wu, Jeffrey C.S.
AU - Chang, Sun Tang
AU - Chen, Kuei Hsien
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the National Science Council of Taiwan for financial support of this research under contracts NSC 97-2911-E-002-090-MY3 and NSC 99-2112-M-002-004 .
PY - 2011/10/15
Y1 - 2011/10/15
N2 - The Z-scheme of water splitting is comprised of H2-photocatalyst and O2-photocatalyst with aid of electron transfer mediator to produce hydrogen and oxygen, respectively. A twin reactor, which divided H2-photocatalyst and O2-photocatalyst in two compartments using a membrane, can separate H2 and O2 thus preventing backward reaction. Pt/SrTiO3:Rh and BiVO4 were used as the H2-photocatalyst and the O2-photocatalyst, respectively. The diffusion of electron mediator, Fe2+/Fe3+, through Nafion membrane was investigated. The transfer rate of mediator ions was remarkably larger than the photoreaction rate, indicating that membrane did not delay the water-splitting reaction in the twin reactor. Under the favorable condition, the hydrogen generation rate reached 0.65μmol/gh and matched the H2/O2stoichiometric ratio of water splitting. We found that the generation of H2in the twin-reactor system was the rate-limiting step of the water-splitting reaction. By using the twin reactor, the deactivation of Pt/SrTiO3:Rh could be minimized due to the suppression of Fe(OH)3formation on the photocatalyst surface.
AB - The Z-scheme of water splitting is comprised of H2-photocatalyst and O2-photocatalyst with aid of electron transfer mediator to produce hydrogen and oxygen, respectively. A twin reactor, which divided H2-photocatalyst and O2-photocatalyst in two compartments using a membrane, can separate H2 and O2 thus preventing backward reaction. Pt/SrTiO3:Rh and BiVO4 were used as the H2-photocatalyst and the O2-photocatalyst, respectively. The diffusion of electron mediator, Fe2+/Fe3+, through Nafion membrane was investigated. The transfer rate of mediator ions was remarkably larger than the photoreaction rate, indicating that membrane did not delay the water-splitting reaction in the twin reactor. Under the favorable condition, the hydrogen generation rate reached 0.65μmol/gh and matched the H2/O2stoichiometric ratio of water splitting. We found that the generation of H2in the twin-reactor system was the rate-limiting step of the water-splitting reaction. By using the twin reactor, the deactivation of Pt/SrTiO3:Rh could be minimized due to the suppression of Fe(OH)3formation on the photocatalyst surface.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.memsci.2011.08.022
DO - 10.1016/j.memsci.2011.08.022
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:80052735316
SN - 0376-7388
VL - 382
SP - 291
EP - 299
JO - Journal of Membrane Science
JF - Journal of Membrane Science
IS - 1-2
ER -
