Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production and Oxygenate Photoreforming
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PERSPECTIVE
Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production and Oxygenate Photoreforming Michael Bowker
Published online: 27 July 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract In this perspective the current state of photocatalytic hydrogen production is considered, focusing especially on photo-reforming reactions. There are fundamental thermodynamic and kinetic limitations to direct water splitting and a number of strategies have been developed to overcome them. These include the development of catalysts which have little activity for the back reaction of hydrogen oxidation, systems with spatially separated H2 and O2 production and the interception of the oxygen species by sacrificial water reductants. Success has been achieved in these areas over the last 20 years or so, but more needs to be done in terms of the development of high quantum efficient photo-absorbers which operate over the useable light range, and of two-photon efficient processes which can extend the useable range further. There is also an urgent need for fundamental investigations of the nature of the range of surface processes which occur during photocatalysis, and which have to occur in synchrony. Keywords Photocatalysis Photoreforming Water splitting Hydrogen production Methanol 1 Introduction We are in an era of necessarily rapid change in our utilisation of the earth’s finite resources. It is only relatively recently in
M. Bowker (&) Cardiff Catalysis Institute, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK e-mail: [email protected] M. Bowker Centre for Catalytic Science, Research Complex at Harwell (RCAH), Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, Oxfordshire OX11 0F, UK
the era of mankind on this planet that we have used fossil fuels, essentially associated with the industrial revolution, and beginning in the UK in the early-mid 19th century. It is only very recently that we have finally realised that the atmosphere is not an infinite sink for CO2 and other pollutant gases, since the planet has responded with potentially catastrophic phenomena such as the ozone hole and global warming. In light of our new knowledge we have realised that we have to live a sustainable lifestyle and that this sustainability must be achieved in the very near future; if this is not achieved then a large part of the human population will suffer extreme consequences, and the human population may finally decline. As human beings we are supposed to be the ‘cleverest’ creatures on the planet, but the quality of the debate in the media on this matter in recent years has often belied this fact [1], and has been a tragedy for human development and planetary health. This paper is concerned with one part of a possible sustainable scenario—that is, the production of a potentially renewable fuel, hydrogen, made from water splitting utilising a non-polluting source of energy, namely sunlight (see Fig. 1). If we can efficiently split water into hydrogen and oxygen, then we would have a major leap forward in our global energy situation, because th
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