Nanocrystalline spinel ferrite for an enriched production of hydrogen through a solar energy stimulated water splitting process

Water splitting photochemical reaction induced by solar energy in the presence of methanol as a hole-scavenger using different structures of ferrites was demonstrated in this study. A few studies in literature have been reported such types of semiconductors, as photocatalytic reagents, for H2 evolution from water-methanol mixture and a minor quantity of H2 productivity yield was demonstrated. In the present work, the photochemical reactivity of nanocrystalline MFe2O4 (M = Ni, Zn and Cd) in hydrogen production from water decomposition were examined. These three types of ferrites were prepared by the chemical precipitation technique. These samples were then characterized using several tools analysis such as N2 physisorption, XRD, DSC-TGA, H2-TPR, H2 chemisorption and TEM. All the prepared ferrites had later on showed a remarkable performance, when introduced as a photocatalytic reagent, in the H2 production during a sun light promoted water splitting process. In comparison to the literature survey, the semiconductors used in this study heavily scored since high H2 concentrations of at least four folds of what is given from literature were obtained. The H2 productivity of Ni-ferrite was higher than the other ferrites at the same testing conditions. Herein, the data collected through this research work revealed that the nano-structured spinel ferrites are promising candidates in the production of an enhanced H2 flux via solar energy induced water splitting.