Sunlight-driven photocatalytic reduction of noble metals ions to nanopartices

Abstract

The investigation of the noble metal ions photoreduction to nanoparticles was conducted in this Master Thesis. Four types of graphitic carbon nitride powders were synthesized through the thermal polycondensation reaction of four different precursors (melamine, dicyandiamide, urea and melamine-cyanuric complex). The chemical and physical properties of synthesized materials were studied by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS, UV-VIS spectroscopy, BET and BJH methods. Photocatalytic properties of the samples were tested in the photoreduction of Au3+ and Pt4+ to Au and Pt-nanoparticles from tetrachloroauric and hexachloroplatinic acids aqueous solutions, respectively. Ethanol and water were used as hole scavengers. DRS and UV-VIS spectroscopy were applied to control the reaction efficiency in solid and liquid phases of the experiments, respectively. The analysis of the thermodynamic parameters of the process, experiment conditions development, experimental data interpretation and correlation of those to the materials’ parameters were conducted and future directions of the research in related area were proposed.