A Low-cost Strategy for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production by Using Non-noble Metal Catalysts and Biomass as Sacrificial Agent

In this study, the influence of various factors on photocatalytic hydrogen production was investigated using urea-treated corn straw as sacrificial agent and non-noble metal composite materials as catalysts. The influence of straw biomass on photocatalytic hydrogen production performance under different treatment conditions was also studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to characterize the composition, structure, and morphology of catalyst and corn straw. Non-noble metal composite catalyst Cu(OH)2-Ni(OH)2/TiO2 was prepared by chemical deposition method. The catalyst performance was studied by changing the Cu:Ni ratio and CuNi:TiO2 ratio, to obtain the suitable photocatalyst for biomass reaction system. Urea treatment was found to significantly improve the surface activity of corn straw for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. Under optimal conditions, the photocatalytic hydrogen production reached a maximum of 108.37 μmol after 4 h using 0.1 g 5wt%Cu(OH)2-Ni(OH)2/TiO2 as catalyst and 0.05 g urea-treated corn straw as sacrificial agent in 100 mL water. This strategy of using non noble metals as photocatalyst and natural biomass as sacrificial agent greatly reduces cost and environmental pollution, which is a promising research direction.