A non-precious metal catalyst has been used to carry out photocatalytic hydrogen evolution for solar energy conversion for the first time, say scientists from Japan and Korea.
Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution has been an attractive method to convert solar energy to chemical energy without emitting carbon dioxide. A hydrogen evolution system composed of an organic photosensitiser and metal catalysts has the potential to use visible light. However, the metal catalysts contain precious metals, typically platinum, because of a low overpotential for hydrogen evolution. Replacing platinum with cheap and abundant metals is a challenge.
The team replaced platinum catalysts with nickel nanoparticles with a 2-phenyl-4-(1-naphthyl)quinolinium ion as a photosensitiser and NADH as a sacrificial electron donor, resulting in a high catalytic activity.
Read this ‘HOT’ EES article today:
Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution with Ni nanoparticles by using 2-phenyl-4-(1-naphthyl)quinolinium ion as a photocatalyst
Y Yamada, S Fukuzumi
Energy Environ. Sci., 2012
DOI: 10.1039/c2ee03106j
