Photocatalytic hydrogen generation over lanthanides-doped titania

The series of platinized lanthanide-doped titania were applied as catalysts in photocatalytic water splitting. The influence of the lanthanide applied on the hydrogen yield was measured. Methanol, ethanol, glycol or glycerin were applied as the sacrificial agents, therefore no oxygen was observed in the reaction products. The best performance was obtained for the catalysts containing 0.5 mol % of Gd, Eu, Yb, or Ho oxides as the dopants. High photoactivity of these catalysts was related to their high potential of tetravalent dopant ions.