Photoelectrochemical properties of an active site working on Fe‐SBA‐15 catalyst: Application to the water reduction under visible light irradiation. Issue 1 (3rd June 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Boudjemaa, A.; Trari, M.; Bachari, K.
• Is Part Of: Environmental progress & sustainable energy. Volume 33:Issue 1(2014:Apr.)
• Page Start: 141
• Page End: 146
• Publication Date: 2013-06-03
• Subjects: Environmental engineering -- Periodicals; Sustainable engineering -- Periodicals; Environmental chemistry -- Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1002/ep.11766
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1944-7442

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Iron‐substituted mesoporous silica, Santa Barbara Amorphous (Fe‐SBA‐15) molecular sieve with Si/Fe ratio of 50 is prepared by microwave‐hydrothermal method. The photoelectrochemistry reveals a metal deficiency and the oxide exhibits <italic>P</italic> type conductivity with activation energy of 20 meV. The flat band potential, determined from the capacitance measurements, is found to be −0.61 <italic>V</italic>_SCE. Hence, the conduction band, made up of 3d orbital (∼4 eV), permits a good position of H₂O/H₂ level (−0.88 V/SCE), thus allowing a thermodynamically feasible H₂ liberation under visible light. In neutral medium, the photocatalyst shows a high H₂ evolution with a rate of 115 μmol g⁻¹ min⁻¹ in presence of SO₃²⁻ as hole scavenger. The initial performance of the PEC system is restored when the solution is bubbled with nitrogen, a deactivation effect of &lt;2% is observed. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 33: 141–146, 2014</p> </abstract>