The effect of cellulose loading on the photoactivity of cellulose-TiO2 hybrids for hydrogen production under simulated sunlight

This work reports the use of cellulose-TiO2 hybrids as photocatalysts for hydrogen production from aqueous ethanol solutions under simulated sunlight. The influence of cellulose loading on hybrids incorporated by impregnation was studied. The cellulose-TiO2 hybrids were characterized by elemental analysis (CHNS), thermo-gravimetric (TGA), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results show that cellulose loading influence on the physico-chemical properties and on photoactivity of cellulose-TiO2 hybrids for H2 production from ethanol solutions. All hybrids show a significant increase in the H2 production rate respect to that achieved on bare TiO2. The H2 production rate over cellulose-TiO2 hybrids depend on the cellulose coverage on TiO2, achieving the better photoactivity the hybrid formed with intermediate cellulose loading.