Titania Hybrid Carbon Spherogelsfor Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

27 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2022

See all articles by Michael S. Elsaesser

Michael S. Elsaesser

University of Salzburg

Stephen Nagaraju Myakala

TU Wien

Miralem Salihovic

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Maurizio Musso

Paris Lodron University of Salzburg

Nicola Hüsing

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Dominik Eder

TU Wien

Volker Presser

Saarland University

Alexey Cherevan

TU Wien

Jorge Torres-Rodriguez

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Abstract

Recently, carbon spherogels have been introduced as a novel monolithic aerogel composed of hollow spheres. This material is conveniently obtained via polystyrene (PS) sphere templating. In the present study, we apply a water-soluble titania precursor (titanium(IV) bis(ammonium lactate) to the aqueous sol-gel synthesis based on resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) to effectively encapsulate titania. In this way, a very high mass loading of up to 59 mass% of titania can be confined strictly to the inside of the hollow carbon spheres. In the final synthesis step, carbonization at 800 °C allows three simultaneous effects: Transformation of the RF coating on PS into microporous carbon, PS template removal by decomposition, and formation of titania due to precursor dissociation. A deliberate tuning of the microporous carbon shell, accessibility of the titania, titania amount, and titania’s polymorph is further demonstrated by thermal treatment. In contrast to non-tuned or TiC-containing carbon spherogels, CO2 activation of the composites results in a three orders of magnitude rise of their photocatalytic activity towards hydrogen evolution reaction, which we evaluate using flow and batch reactors. We further show that this effect is related to the partial etching of the carbonaceous shell, which renders TiO2 surface accessible to the reactants in the solution and allows for an efficient hole scavenging. Given the simplicity of the hybrid carbon spherogel (HCS) composite fabrication, the high degree of control of their morphological characteristics, and the striking effects of CO2 -activation on performance, we strongly believe that our results will interest a broad scientific community.

Keywords: hybrid aerogels, nanoporous materials, hollow carbon spheres, Photocatalysis, hydrogen evolution reaction

Suggested Citation

Elsaesser, Michael S. and Myakala, Stephen Nagaraju and Salihovic, Miralem and Musso, Maurizio and Hüsing, Nicola and Eder, Dominik and Presser, Volker and Cherevan, Alexey and Torres-Rodriguez, Jorge, Titania Hybrid Carbon Spherogelsfor Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4194703 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4194703

Michael S. Elsaesser (Contact Author)

University of Salzburg ( email )

Akademiestraße 26
Salzburg, 5020
Austria

Miralem Salihovic

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Maurizio Musso

Paris Lodron University of Salzburg ( email )

Nicola Hüsing

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Dominik Eder

TU Wien ( email )

Volker Presser

Saarland University ( email )

Alexey Cherevan

TU Wien ( email )

Jorge Torres-Rodriguez

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

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