Photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen production using nanoparticulate titania and a novel Pt/carbon electrocatalyst: The concept of the “Photoelectrocatalytic Leaf”

Photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen production was realized my means of a double electrode carrying photocatalyst and electrocatalyst, deposited side by side on an FTO electrode, acting as a “Photoelectrocatalytic Leaf”. As photocatalyst we used plain commercial nanoparticulate titania and as electrocatalyst a conductive carbon film made by a commercial carbon paste enriched with a small quantity of Pt nanoparticles (0.0134 mg/cm2). This quantity of Pt is much smaller than used in other applications and it may be further optimized. Hydrogen was produced in an alkaline environment in the presence of ethanol acting as sacrificial agent. A few variants of electrode geometry were studied in order to set the basic terms for efficient hydrogen production. It was found that optimal electrode geometry necessitates a much larger area for photocatalyst coverage than electrocatalyst and that it is preferable to divide photocatalyst and electrocatalyst areas in alternating zones.