Photodehydrogenation of Ethanol over Cu<sub>2</sub>O/TiO<sub>2</sub> Heterostructures
Congcong Xing,
Yu Zhang,
Yongpeng Liu,
Xiang Wang,
Junshan Li,
Paulina R. Martínez-Alanis,
Maria Chiara Spadaro,
Pablo Guardia,
Jordi Arbiol,
Jordi Llorca,
Andreu Cabot
Affiliations
Congcong Xing
Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Sant Adrià de Besòs, 08930 Barcelona, Spain
Yu Zhang
Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Sant Adrià de Besòs, 08930 Barcelona, Spain
Yongpeng Liu
Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Optoelectronic Nanomaterials (LIMNO), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 6, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Xiang Wang
Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Sant Adrià de Besòs, 08930 Barcelona, Spain
Junshan Li
Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Sant Adrià de Besòs, 08930 Barcelona, Spain
Paulina R. Martínez-Alanis
ENFOCAT-IN2UB, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), C/Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Maria Chiara Spadaro
Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
Pablo Guardia
Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Sant Adrià de Besòs, 08930 Barcelona, Spain
Jordi Arbiol
Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
Jordi Llorca
Institute of Energy Technologies, Department of Chemical Engineering and Barcelona Research Center in Multiscale Science and Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, EEBE, 08019 Barcelona, Spain
Andreu Cabot
Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), Sant Adrià de Besòs, 08930 Barcelona, Spain
The photodehydrogenation of ethanol is a sustainable and potentially cost-effective strategy to produce hydrogen and acetaldehyde from renewable resources. The optimization of this process requires the use of highly active, stable and selective photocatalytic materials based on abundant elements and the proper adjustment of the reaction conditions, including temperature. In this work, Cu2O-TiO2 type-II heterojunctions with different Cu2O amounts are obtained by a one-pot hydrothermal method. The structural and chemical properties of the produced materials and their activity toward ethanol photodehydrogenation under UV and visible light illumination are evaluated. The Cu2O-TiO2 photocatalysts exhibit a high selectivity toward acetaldehyde production and up to tenfold higher hydrogen evolution rates compared to bare TiO2. We further discern here the influence of temperature and visible light absorption on the photocatalytic performance. Our results point toward the combination of energy sources in thermo-photocatalytic reactors as an efficient strategy for solar energy conversion.
