Synthesis and characterization of , and hydrogen production from methanol photodecomposition over the mixture of and

This study focused on the production of hydrogen from the methanol destruction in a liquid photocatalytic system that comprised a mixture of Ag x O and TiO 2 (P-25, Degussa). The nanometer particles of Ag x O were obtained by a conventional sol–gel method in the presence of tetraethylammonium hydroxide using thermal treatment at 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 ∘ C to attain various silver oxide forms. The 38 . 0 ∘ and 43 . 0 ∘ peaks, which were assigned to Ag 2 O and Ag metal, respectively, were seen in Ag x O powder at each temperature; however, these Ag 2 O / Ag ratios varied and the AgO form was not found in any of the samples. In the XPS data, the peak which was assigned to Ag 3 d 5 / 2 in the Ag metal or Ag 2 O was present in all the Ag x O samples. In particular, the peak of Ag 3 d 5 / 2 in the Ag metal was dominant at high temperature, while the peak of Ag 3 d 5 / 2 in Ag 2 O increased at low temperature. When TiO 2 was used as a photocatalyst in the methanol photodecomposition reaction, no hydrogen gases were evolved. However, the hydrogen product was remarkably increased in the mixture of Ag x O and TiO 2 photo-system. Moreover, it was more enhanced when Ag x O thermally treated at 100 ∘ C was added, compared to the samples with Ag x O thermally treated at other temperatures, and the production peaked at 17,000 μmol after 24 h.