Photocatalytic hydrogen generation with Ag-loaded LiNbO3

Abstract

In this contribiution LiNbO3 and Ag-loaded LiNbO3 photocatalysts were tested in the reaction of hydrogen evolution. The silver modified samples contained different loading of co-catalyst in the range of 0·5-4 wt%. It was essential to optimize the sample composition to achieve an efficient hydrogen evolution. The optimal sample contained 2 wt% of silver. The detailed analysis indicated that silver was deposited on the surface of LiNbO3 in the form of Ag2O. Therefore, it is supposed that Ag2O was responsible for the enhanced photocatalytic activity in the studied reaction. The crystallographic phases and optical and vibronic properties were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and diffuse reflectance (DR) UV-Vis and resonance Raman spectroscopic methods, respectively. Morphology of the produced samples were studied using a highresolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). © Indian Academy of Sciences.