Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production from aqueous methanol solution using ZnO with simultaneous photodeposition of Cu

•In-situ Cu-deposited ZnO for UV/vis and visible photocatalytic H2 production.•Cu deposition and methanol oxidation for reducing e−-h+ recombination.•Deposited Cu/ZnO had 130 times better reactivity relative to pure ZnO.

The enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production from aqueous methanol solution using ZnO was investigated with aid of simultaneous metal deposition. The simultaneous deposition for such metals as Ag, Au, Cu, Ni, Pd, Pt, and Rh was evaluated for the H2 production from aqueous methanol solution. As a result, the addition of Cu ion was effective improvement in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The photocatalytic hydrogen production using ZnO photocatalyst with aid of simultaneous deposition of Cu was approximately 130 times better than those obtained with bare ZnO. The Cu-deposited ZnO had the response to the visible light for the hydrogen formation. After the photocatalytic hydrogen production, the in-situ Cu-photodeposited ZnO sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectrometry (UV-DRS), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy.

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