Produção fotocatalítica de hidrogênio a partir de filmes finos poliméricos nanoestruturados suportados em substrato flexível

Abstract

The use of renewable energy such as solar energy to produce hydrogen gas (H2), through the photocatalytic process of breaking the water molecule, is a promising alternative to conventional energy sources. In this context, the production of nanostructured thin films of different materials is an application that can combine photocatalysis and nanotechnology.Thus, the main objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of tetrachlorouric acid (HAuCl4) for the incorporation of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) in H2 production from thin films supported on bacterial cellulose (BC), produced through of the technique layer by layer using the weak polyelectrolytes, polyallylamine hydrochloride (PAH) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) combined with titanium dioxide (TiO2). Through the techniques of molecular absorption spectroscopy in the ultraviolet and visible (UV-Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), it was possible to verify the absorption of BC in the UV region, the peaks at 14.6º, 16.6º and 22.6º, the fiber surface and the characteristic bands of BC, respectively. The specific surface area of 1.57 m2 g-1 was found for CB. Absorption in the UV region of the HAuCl4 and TiO2 solutions were determined by UV-Vis. By means of the XRD technique, the average crystallite size of the TiO2 was calculated which was ~5 nm corroborating with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TiO2 was also characterized by molecular fluorescence, SEM and specific surface area. The zeta potential was used to analyze the polymer solutions (PAH and PAA) and the TiO 2 solution. The films with different concentrations of HAuCl4 (1.25 mmol L-1, 2.5 mmol L-1 and 5 mmol L-1) and with different UV light times (6h, 12h, 24h, 24h, 48h and 96h) were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC). Of these films, the ones that most produced H2 at each concentration of HAuCl4 (c1-24 / concentration of 1.25 mmol L-1 and 24h of UV light), (c2-6 / concentration of 2.5 mmol L-1 and 6h of UV light) and (c3-24 / concentration of 5 mmol L-1 and 24h of UV light) were characterized before and after photocatalysis. Through the UV-Vis, it was possible to observe the presence of Au and TiO2 NPs in the films. By XRD, the peaks were noted of CB, TiO2 (25.3 °) and Au (38.18 ° and 44.5 °) in the films. In the SEM it was observed that the film (c1-24) had Au grains dispersed in the matrix and the presence of Ti on the whole surface without agglomerations, revealing as a homogeneous film compared to the films (c2-6) and (c3-24). Using the MET technique, the morphology, size and distribution of Au NPs were analyzed in the films revealing values in manometric scale. The film (c1-24) presented smaller sizes of Au NPs (9 nm). Specific surface area, perfilometry, Glow-discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GD-OES) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES) were also analyzed to evaluate the effect of concentrations and sizes of Au NPs in the films.The film with lower concentration of HAuCl4 (c1-24), which had Au NPs less than in greater contact with the surface of TiO2 produced more H2, was analyzed by CG to improve the best performance in H2 production varying some parameters as reuse of the film (c1-24a) and (c1-24b), substrate change (c1-24d), increase of layers (c1-24f) and film without polymers (c1-24g). Analyzing all the variations of the parameters it was concluded that the film (c1-24) produced 29.12 μmol h-1 cm2 of H2 presenting a better photocatalytic activity.