Nano-ferrites for water splitting: unprecedented high photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light.

In the present investigation, hydrogen production via water splitting by nano-ferrites was studied using ethanol as the sacrificial donor and Pt as co-catalyst. Nano-ferrite is emerging as a promising photocatalyst with a hydrogen evolution rate of 8.275 µmol h(-1) and a hydrogen yield of 8275 µmol h(-1) g(-1) under visible light compared to 0.0046 µmol h(-1) for commercial iron oxide (tested under similar experimental conditions). Nano-ferrites were tested in three different photoreactor configurations. The rate of hydrogen evolution by nano-ferrite was significantly influenced by the photoreactor configuration. Altering the reactor configuration led to sevenfold (59.55 µmol h(-1)) increase in the hydrogen evolution rate. Nano-ferrites have shown remarkable stability in hydrogen production up to 30 h and the cumulative hydrogen evolution rate was observed to be 98.79 µmol h(-1). The hydrogen yield was seen to be influenced by several factors like photocatalyst dose, illumination intensity, irradiation time, sacrificial donor and presence of co-catalyst. These were then investigated in detail. It was evident from the experimental data that nano-ferrites under optimized reaction conditions and photoreactor configuration could lead to remarkable hydrogen evolution activity under visible light. Temperature had a significant role in enhancing the hydrogen yield.

Adsorption of phenol and o-chlorophenol by mesoporous MCM-41.

Water pollution by toxic organic compounds is of concern and the demand for effective adsorbents for the removal of toxic compounds is increasing. Present work deals with the adsorption of phenol (PhOH) and o-chlorophenol (o-CP) on mesoporous MCM-41 material. The effect of surfactant template in MCM-41 on the removal of PhOH and o-CP was investigated. The comparison of adsorption of PhOH and o-CP on uncalcined MCM-41 (noted as MCM-41) and calcined MCM-41 (noted as C-MCM-41) was investigated. It was found that MCM-41 shows significant adsorption for PhOH and o-CP as compared to C-MCM-41, this may be because of the hydrophobicity created by surfactant template in the MCM-41. Batch adsorption studies were carried out to study the effect of various parameters like adsorbent dose, pH, initial concentration and the presence of co-existing ions. It was found that adsorption of PhOH and o-CP depends upon the solution pH as well as co-existing ions present in the aqueous solution. The equilibrium adsorption data for PhOH and o-CP was analyzed by using Freundlich adsorption isotherm model. From the sorption studies it was observed that the uptake of o-CP was higher than PhOH.