Producing Hydrogen Energy Using Cr2O3-TNFs Nanocomposite with Animal (Chitosan) Extract via Ultrasonic and Hydrothermal Techniques

Abstract

In this study, an efficient photocatalyst for dissociation of water was prepared and studied. The chromium oxide (Cr2O3) with Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanofibers (Cr2O3-TNFs) nanocomposite with (chitosan extract) were synthesized using ecologically friendly methods such as ultrasonic and hydrothermal techniques; such TiO2 exhibits nanofibers (TNFs) shape structure. Doping TiO2 with chromium (Cr) enhances its ability to absorb ultraviolet light while also speeding up the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes. The prepared TNFs and Cr2O3-TNFs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and UV-Visible absorbance. The XRD of TNFs showed a tetragonal phase with 6.9 nm of average crystallite size, whereas Cr2O3-TNFs crystallite size was 12.3 nm. FE-SEM images showed that the average particle size of TNFs was in the range of (9-35) nm and UV-Vis absorbance of TNFs showed their energy gap to be 3.9eV while the energy gaps of Cr2O3-TNFs were smaller equal to 2.4 eV. The highest hydrogen production rate for the Cr2O3-TNFs nanocomposite was 4.1ml after 80min of UV exposure. Cr2O3-TNFs have high photocatalytic effectiveness due to their wide ultraviolet light photoresponse range and excellent separation of photogenerated electrons and holes.