Hydrogen is an ideal clean and sustainable fuel that can be obtained via “green” photocatalysis under the near-UV/Visible light, such as photoreforming of alcohols from plant biomass. One of the major goals in photocatalysis is to understand the mechanism of photoinduced charge transfer. The new photocatalytic colloid Cu-TiO2 was prepared by the "one-pot" method from Cu(II) and Ti(IV) precursors in alcohol under the UV/visible light. This colloid contains Cu(0) metallic nanoparticles and exhibits the photoluminescence (PL) in the visible range due to the surface oxygen vacancy V(O). Chemical kinetics of the "one-pot" synthesis of the new colloid Cu(0)-V(O)-TiO2 follows the zeroths order kinetic rate law. On the other hand, the "one-pot" photochemical synthesis of Cu2O colloidal nanoparticles follows the first order kinetic rate law under the same conditions. Under illumination, photocatalytic colloid Cu(0)-V(O)-TiO2 undergoes a reversible and repeated accumulation of negative charge due to electron transfer through the semiconductor/metal interface, with formation of the new surface-charged transient specie e-Cu(0)-V(O)-TiO2. In the dark, the transient e-Cu(0)-V(O)-TiO2 undergoes a reversible discharge to Cu(0)-V(O)-TiO2 form as observed by the in-situ UV-Vis spectroscopy and in-situ PL spectroscopy.

One-pot synthesis of Cu-TiO2 photocatalyst for photoreforming of alcohols, photoexcitation induced interfacial electron transfer, charging and discharging

249th National Meeting (2015)

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