Solar hydrogen production from aqueous solutions of ethanol

In this work, photo-catalytic hydrogen production from water is studied, using ethanol as sacrificial agent. Titania was used as a base catalyst due to its stability and corrosion resistance as well as its environmental friendliness and low cost. The need to decrease the electron-hole recombination rate was accounted for by metal doping and also by using the ethanol molecule as a hole trap. Hydrogen production was achieved using own synthesised sol-gel metal doped titania, with production rate values being larger than published literature data