Scalable optical fiber reactor for photocatalytic H2 production: Addressing scattering issues |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Catalysis and Inorganic Chemistry Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, Maharashtra, 411008, India;2. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India;1. Institsuto de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago, Chile;2. Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica & Interdisciplinary Laboratories for Advanced Materials Physics (i-LAMP), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via della Garzetta 46, 25133 Brescia, Italy;1. Telecommunications Signals and Systems Laboratory (TSS), Amar Telidji University of Laghouat, BP 37G, Laghouat, 03000, Algeria;2. Engineering School of Vitoria-Gasteiz, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Nieves Cano 12, 1006, Vitoria, Spain;1. College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology Taiyuan, 030000, PR China;2. National Key Laboratory of Transit Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology Nanjing, 210094, PR China;1. Materials Science and Engineering Postgraduate Program, UFPB, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Brazil;2. Department of Physics, Federal University of Paraíba, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil;3. Materials Science and Engineering Postgraduate Program, UFRN, 59078-970, Natal, Brazil;4. Centre for Mechanical Technology and Automation, Mechanical Engineering Department, UA, 3810-193, Portugal;5. LASI - Intelligent Systems Associate Laboratory, Portugal;6. Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Paraíba, 58051-900, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil;7. State Department of Education of Amazonas, SEDUCAM, 69076-820, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | Scattering is one of the main challenges in scaling up photocatalytic water splitting using the most prevalent powder catalysts. This can be overcome by decoupling the reaction medium from light transmission, as in the case of optical fibers. Here we explore utilizing optical fibers coated with 5 wt% CuO supported on TiO2 for photocatlytic H2 production from water-methanol mixtures. CuO/TiO2 is a well studied photo catalyst in which photoreduced Cu species are known to act as sensitizers for inducing visible light activity. Lower activity of sequentially coated systems indicates that appropriate interfaces of active Cu and TiO2 with water are desirable. The scalability of such optical fiber-based systems along with potential in non-potable turbid water media are demonstrated. Maximum activity of 22 μmoles of H2 in 8 h was obtained with 50 mg of catalyst coated on optical fibers, which increases linearly with increase in fiber numbers, whereas, drastic reduction in activity is observed in powder catalyst upon increasing the catalyst quantity. A one-to-one comparison of 700 mg of catalyst in powder form and coated on optical fibers indicates more than one order enhancement in activity in the optical fiber based system. In addition, ～70% retention in activity in highly turbid non-potable water was observed as compared to powdered system which shows complete reduction in the activity by 99.99%. |
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| Keywords: | Photocatalytic water splitting Visible light utilisation Optical fibers Total internal reflection |
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