Photocatalytic hydrogen production from degradation of glucose over fluorinated and platinized TiO2 catalysts

• Fluorinated TiO2 as support for Pt in the photocatalytic hydrogen production from glucose.
• Fluorination and Pt addition modified the hydroxylation of TiO2 surface.
• Comparison between sulfation and fluorination of TiO2 surface.
• Fluorination of TiO2 leads to higher glucose degradation rate.
• The highest photocatalytic activity was obtained on Pt–F–TiO2 catalysts.

The present work reports the renewable hydrogen production by photocatalytic degradation of glucose over commercial and home prepared TiO2 modified by the simultaneous presence of fluorine and Pt (Pt–F–TiO2). The obtained materials were widely characterized by different techniques (XRD, SBET, UV–Vis DRS, XRF, SEM and TEM) and it was found that surface area, anatase/rutile ratio and the distribution and size of the platinum particles are important factors influencing the effectiveness of these materials in the H2 production. The photocatalytic H2 production from the glucose solution was 97 μmol of H2 after 3 h of irradiation on home prepared TiO2 modified by F and Pt addition, while a lower value corresponding to 31 μmol of H2 was obtained on commercial TiO2 modified by F and Pt, after 3 h of irradiation. The hydrogen production rate increased by decreasing the initial pH of solution reaching the highest value of about 590 μmol h−1 g−1 after 3 h of irradiation time at pH = 2. Accordingly, sugar containing wastewaters from food industry has the potential for producing hydrogen by photocatalytic process while removing organics before disposal or reuse.

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