Sacrificial hydrogen generation from formaldehyde with Pt/TiO₂ photocatalyst in solar radiation

In this work, solar TiO₂ photocatalysis was used for sacrificial hydrogen generation from formaldehyde. Platinum was loaded onto a TiO ₂ photocatalyst by a solar photodeposition method to suppress the electron/hole recombination process. The photocatalyst inside the reactor was irradiated from the top with a solar simulator. Photocatalytic hydrogen generation from formaldehyde was influenced by the solution pH, platinum loading (wt %) on TiO₂, catalyst concentration, light intensity, and initial formaldehyde concentration. A Langmuir-type model fitted well with the experimental data, and the values of surface reaction rate constant, k, and the adsorption equilibrium constant, K, are 2.3598 × 10^-6 mol min^-1 and 17.73 M^-1, respectively. Apparent quantum yield (QY) was higher for the UV light-driven hydrogen generation (10.91%) compared to the solar light-driven hydrogen generation (1.24%).