There is growing interest in the reforming of methanol and other bio-oxygenates as highdensity, CO 2 -neutral, renewable sources of H 2 . Photocatalysis is worthy of investigation as a potentially economic means to drive such endothermic processes. In this study, in-situ DRIFTS, adapted for optical pumping and coupled to on-line MS, was used to observe the surface of TiO 2 (Degussa P25) during photo-metallization from pre-sorbed hexachloroplatinate, at a nominal Pt loading of 1 wt%, and to evaluate photo-reforming of methanol over the resulting Pt/TiO 2 composite. The irreversible growth of a quasi-continuum absorption, characteristic of the surface plasmon resonance of zerovalent Pt nanoparticles, along with bands at 2050 and 1830 cm -1 typical of metal-adsorbed CO, indicated that photometallization was complete typically within 2 hours. Methanol reforming was photocatalyzed at room temperature but in low quantum efficiency, ø ≈ 0.01. However, this was raised substantially, to ø ≈ 0.07, simply by the application of mild heating (T ≤ 70 ºC). Photoreforming proceeded at a fixed rate but the H 2 /CO 2 ratio generally exceeded that of the reforming stoichiometry, suggesting some retention of CO 2 . The photo-thermal synergy was rationalized by model DRIFTS studies, starting from formalin (hydrated formaldehyde), which revealed key features of the mechanism. TiO 2 promoted the Cannizzaro disproportionation in the dark, yielding formate and methoxy species already at 40 ºC. While methoxy was effectively cycled back to the initial photo-dehydrogenation stage, the slow step was identified as formate decomposition to H 2 and CO 2 . The low value measured for the apparent activation energy (~40 kJ mol -1 ) was taken as supporting evidence for 'waterassisted destabilization' of formate, as originally reported by Shido and Iwasawa. No evidence was found for an alternative thermal or photo-reforming mechanism involving the Pt-CO ad species.
Hematite (α-Fe(2)O(3)) is a nontoxic, stable, versatile material that is widely used in catalysis and sensors. Its functionality in sensing organic molecules such as acetone is of great interest because it can result in potential medical applications. In this report, microwave irradiation is applied in the preparation of one-dimensional (1D) α-FeOOH, thereby simplifying our previous hydrothermal method and reducing the reaction time to just a few minutes. Upon calcination, the sample was converted to porous α-Fe(2)O(3) nanorods, which were then decorated homogeneously by fine Au particles, yielding Au/1D α-Fe(2)O(3) at nominally 3 wt % Au. After calcination, the sample was tested as a potential sensor for acetone in the parts per million range and compared to a similarly loaded Pt sample and the pure 1D α-Fe(2)O(3) support. Gold addition results in a much enhanced response whereas Pt confers little or no improvement. From tests on acetone in the 1-100 ppm range in humid air, Au/1D α-Fe(2)O(3) has a fast response, short recovery time, and an almost linear response to the acetone concentration. The optimum working temperature was found to be 270 °C, which was judged to be a compromise between the thermal activation of lattice oxygen in hematite and the propensity for acetone adsorption. The surface reaction was investigated by diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), and a possible sensing mechanism is proposed. The presence of Au nanoparticles is believed to promote the dissociation of molecular oxygen better in replenishing O vacancies, thereby increasing the instantaneous supply of lattice oxygen to the oxidation of acetone (to H(2)O and CO(2)), which proceeds through an adsorbed acetate intermediate. This work contributes to the development of next-generation sensors, which offer ultrahigh detection capabilities for organic molecules.
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