Photoreforming of organics in aqueous suspension of Nb2O5/C3N4 composites to obtain H2

Abstract

Photocatalysis based on the use of semiconductors has gained, during the recent years, increased attention as promising sustainable process for H2 and fine chemicals production, given the possibility of activating such photocatalysts by visible light radiation. The photo-reforming activity in this work has been measured under both UV-LED irradiation and natural sunlight illumination. Moreover, the presence of metallic Pt as co-catalysts has been studied. Carbon nitride (C3N4) based materials are good candidates for solar energy conversions. The choice of C3N4 and Nb2O5 arises from the fact that their heterojunction can lead to lower recombination between the photo-generated electrons and holes by forming an heterojunction. Nb2O5-TE-C3N4 10:1- 200 was the most performant photocatalysts also under this condition giving a hydrogen productivity of 810 μmol·h-1·g-1 or 630 μmol·h-1·g-1 when using 0.32 g·L-1 or 0.6 g·L-1, respectively.