Comparative investigation on photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over Cu-, Pd-, and Au-loaded mesoporous TiO2 photocatalysts

Photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution from water using methanol as hole scavenger was comparatively investigated over mesoporous TiO2 photocatalysts with various contents of Cu, Pd, and Au cocatalyst loadings prepared by single-step sol-gel (SSSG) process with surfactant template. The photocatalysts were analytically characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) pore size distribution, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analyses. The comparison of optimum loading contents of the cocatalysts was chiefly studied on the mesoporous TiO2. Among photocatalysts, 2 wt% Au supported on mesoporous TiO2 exhibited the highest photocatalytic H2 evolution activity.