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Fadl's Project Page - RISE Summer 2008 |
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Intern: Fadl Saadi, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University
Mentor: Peng Zhang
Faculty Supervisor: Eric McFarland
Department: Chemical Engineering |
INVESTIGATING SUITABLE OXIDES FOR PHOCATALYTIC HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
The splitting of water into H2 and O2 by photoelectrolysis using solar energy and suitable catalysts has attracted a lot
of interest over the past few decades. For an oxide to be a viable catalyst for this reaction it must have a suitable
bandgap, high quantum efficiency and must be relatively cheap to produce. This project aimed to find suitable
nanostructures of oxides which would be able to yield higher efficiencies by decreasing the transportation distance
of the electron and by increasing surface area of the catalyst. In this project we looked into hematite, copper (I)
oxide and silver oxide nanostructures which may be suitable as cathode materials due to their short band gaps and
relatively low costs. Several different structures of hematite were produced, including nanorods, quasicubic and
mesoporous structures. To further increase efficiency, platinum was deposited on the hematite nanostructures. Also
Pt@TiO2@Fe2O3 nanorods were synthesized as well as nanorods of both copper (I) oxide and silver oxide. These
structures were studied using TEM and X-Ray diffraction and their internal quantum efficiencies (IQE) were
measured using a 1kW lamp. The nanorods and mesoporous hematite structures produced were shown to have high
IQE and appear to be very promising and encourage furthering research in the area.
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