Preparation of a new Sacrificial Reagent through tree leaves and its photocatalytic HER and CO2 reductions performance

• Main Author: Sze, Sharon Pei Xuan
• Other Authors: Xue Can
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Materials::Ecomaterials; Engineering::Materials::Energy materials
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/139489
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The current energy and environmental crises have been the two greatest challenges impeding the development towards environmental sustainability a pillar of sustainable development. Photocatalysis can be appraised as an upcoming prospect to solve the current crises as this process only requires inexhaustible solar energy from the Sun as a driving force. The photocatalysts play a vital role in photocatalytic process. However, the drawbacks of photocatalysts includes low light harvesting, sever charge recombination and sluggish surface catalytic kinetics due to its low photocatalytic activity. Thus, numerous efforts have been made towards developing a more efficient photocatalyst. The sacrificial reagent and catalyst must be added to various photocatalytic systems. After the addition of the sacrificial reagent, the charge recombination will be suppressed, and only half-reaction is required to be considered. It is easy to investigate the photocatalytic mechanism, yet, the exploration of new sacrificial reagent is rarely reported. Therefore, in this study, a new environmentally friendly, sacrificial reagent is developed and synthesised at low costs which aims to minimise environmental impact and reducing pollution from the source. The new sacrificial reagents were synthesised using green and withered leaves, and reflux under concentrated acid, base, and deionised water conditions. The metal-free photocatalyst - Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is used as a model photocatalyst to test the effect of new synthesised sacrificial reagent in photocatalytic H2 evolution from water. Data obtained from the photocatalytic water splitting experiments showed that the new synthesised sacrificial reagents derived from green and withered leaves does enhance the photocatalytic efficiency and can be acknowledged as a potential candidate for large-scale as well as low-cost photocatalytic applications.