Development of photoelectrodes for hydrogen and oxygen production

• Grant number: 14/10757-4
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): April 23, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Physical-Chemistry
• Cooperation agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal researcher: Lucia Helena Mascaro Sales
• Grantee: Suellen Aparecida Alves
• Home Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Hydrogen production has been highlighting globally, because it presents as a clean energy source and consequently an alternative to fossil fuels. The production of this gas is given mainly by the process called steam reforming. However, this process presents difficulties as the emission of pollutants gases such as CO and CO2. In this sense, water photolysis is noteworthy since hydrogen and oxygen can be produced in an environmentally friendly way using as excitation source electron the solar energy. Against this background, the research for photocatalytic materials is still a challenge, because they must provide high catalytic efficiency, low capacity of the pair electron/hole recombination, low cost and high chemical and physical stability. In this project we propose the development of photoanode and photocathode of WO3 and MoS2 by different synthetic routes to obtain nanostructures with catalytic efficiency for oxygen and hydrogen generation, respectively. The synthesized materials will be characterized by different techniques such as UV-Vis spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-Ray, X-Ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, band-gap determination amongst other techniques, and the applicability of these materials will be evaluated by the reactions of photoelectrocatalytic water. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GOULART, LORENA ATHIE; ALVES, SUELLEN APARECIDA; MASCARO, LUCIA HELENA. Photoelectrochemical degradation of bisphenol A using Cu doped WO3 electrodes. JOURNAL OF ELECTROANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, v. 839, p. 123-133, APR 15 2019. Web of Science Citations: 1.

ALVES, SUELLEN APARECIDA; GOULART, LORENA ATHIE; MASCARO, LUCIA HELENA. A novel WO3/MoS2 photocatalyst applied to the decolorization of the textile dye Reactive Blue 198. Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry, v. 22, n. 5, SI, p. 1449-1458, MAY 2018. Web of Science Citations: 2.