(29d) Photoproduction of Hydrogen from Hydrogen Sulfide Using a Novel Metal Oxide Photocatalyst

The decomposion of hydrogen sulfide has attained a lot of significance due to environmental problem. The Claus process is the most popular process that currently used for the hydrogen sulfide decomposition. The conventional Claus process is involved the synproportionation reaction between H₂S and SO₂ yielding elemental sulfur and water vapor. Two hydrogens in H₂S are wasted to make H₂O. If we could recover hydrogen from H₂S, instead of oxidizing it into H₂O (Claus process), immense amount of hydrogen could be produced. Photocleavage of the H₂S to H₂ by semiconductor particle photocatalyst has been considered as a process that ultimately converts solar energy into fuels. This process requires less energy compared to photodecomposition of water. In this connection, recovery of H₂ from H₂S has attracted more attention because of its economic and environmental advantages. Of late, development of photocatalyst for photodecomposition of hydrogen sulfide and water into hydrogen has been a subject matter of immense interest owing to the energy and pollution abatement. Massive work has been carried out in the development of ultraviolet driven photocatalysts for water and H₂S splitting. However, there is a demand for highly efficient photocatalyst for photoproduction of hydrogen. It is indispensable to control the energy structure for the development of photocatalyst materials. So, there is a need to find stable, economical and efficient new metal oxide photocatalysts for hydrogen production. In view of this, we have investigated novel photocatlysts for photodecomposition of H₂S for the first time. We investigated the synthesis of this catalyst by solid state and solution route. The structural and morphological study was carried out using XRD and FESEM. The influence of preparation method on the activity of the photocatalyst was investigated. The novelty in synthesis of new product, its characterization and photocatalytic activity will be disscussed