Deciphering the reaction mechanisms of photothermal hydrogen production using H/D kinetic isotope effect

Sara El Hakim (1) , Tony Chave (2, 1) , Sergey Nikitenko (2, 1)

1 ICSM - UMR 5257 - Institut de Chimie Séparative de Marcoule
2 LSFC - Sonochimie dans les Fluides Complexes

H/D kinetic isotope effect has been employed to study the mechanism of the thermally assisted photocatalytic hydrogen production over noble metal-free Ti@TiO$_2$ core–shell nanoparticles. We have found that the observed large H/D isotope separation factor (αH = 11.3 ± 1.7–6.2 ± 0.9) is due to the electron hole-mediated cleavage of OH bond. It was concluded that strong H/D isotopic selectivity is associated with significant photothermal effect.

Domaines: Catalyse

Sara El Hakim, Tony Chave, Sergey Nikitenko. Deciphering the reaction mechanisms of photothermal hydrogen production using H/D kinetic isotope effect. Catalysis Science & Technology, 2022, 12, pp.5252. ⟨10.1039/D2CY01185A⟩. ⟨hal-03764390⟩