Effects of RhCrOx Cocatalyst Loaded on Different Metal Doped LaFeO3 Perovskites with Photocatalytic Hydrogen Performance under Visible Light Irradiation

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production by water splitting provides an alternative to fossil fuels using clean and renewable energy, which gives important requirements about the efficiency of photocatalysts, co-catalysts, and sacrificial agents. To achieve higher H2 production efficiencies from water splitting, the study uses different metals such as yttrium (Y), praseodymium (Pr), magnesium (Mg), Indium (In), calcium (Ca), europium (Eu), and terbium (Tb) doped lanthanum iron oxide (LaFeO3) perovskites. They were synthesized using a co-precipitate method in a citric acid solution, which was loaded with the rhodium chromium oxide (RhCrOx) cocatalysts by an impregnation method along with a detailed investigation of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance. Photoluminescence (PL) and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) measured the rate of electron–hole recombination for RhCrOx/Pr-LaFeO3 photocatalysts, and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) analyzed their characteristics. The experimental results obtained show that the samples with 0.5 wt.% RhCrOx loading and 0.1 M Pr-doped LaFeO3 calcined at a temperature of 700 °C (0.1Pr-LaFeO3-700) exhibited the highest photocatalytic H2 evolution rate of 127 µmol h−1 g−1, which is 34% higher photocatalytic H2 evolution performance than undoped LaFeO3 photocatalysts (94.8 μmol h−1 g−1). A measure of 20% of triethanolamine (TEOA) enabled a high hole capture capability and promoted 0.1-Pr-LaFeO3-700 to get the highest H2 evolution rate.

Constructing Exfoliated, Ti3C2Tx MXene-Dispersed, LaCoO3 and pC3N4-Based Nanocomposites with In Situ Grown Titania through Etching/Oxidation for Stimulating Solar H2 Production

“…Other than this, 10% triethanolamine generated 1.38 times improved H 2 as compared to 5% triethanolamine based on the high ability of TEOA for capturing holes, thus leading to the separation of charge carriers for boosted evolution of H 2 . A current study also reported an increasing trend in H 2 generation over TEOA until 20% concentration …”

“…A current study also reported an increasing trend in H 2 generation over TEOA until 20% concentration. 81 3.2.6. Photostability.…”

Hydrogen evolution via noble metals based photocatalysts: A review

“…Then, Nishioka et al tested Rhodium doping on supported BaTiO3 synthesized by hydrothermal method [107]. In another study, RhCrOx loaded with LaFeO3 cocatalyst was utilizd to closely estimate the performance of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under solar spectrum [108]. It has been discovered that the rate of H2 production in the vicinity of RhCrOx/Pr-LaFeO3 and triethanolamine (TEOA) as sacrificial agents is the highest compared to methanol and ethanol.…”

SrTiO3:Al/Cd0.6Zn0.4S Type-II Heterojunction Photocatalysts for Efficient Solar Water Splitting

“…Semiconductors play a vital role in the efficient solar water splitting. , Currently, the semiconductors applied in photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen production mainly include transition metal oxides, − perovskite-structured materials, − sulfides, − and polymeric carbon nitride . Among them, ABX 3 perovskite materials are highly regarded by researchers for their structural stability and easy replacement of (AB) metal elements.…”