Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2014, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (3): 416-422.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(14)60006-1

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The role of water in photocatalytic dissociation of methanol on rutile TiO2(110)-(1×1)

Chenbiao Xua,b, Wenshao Yangb, Qing Guob, Dongxu Daib, Maodu Chena, Xueming Yangb   

  1. a Department of Physics and Optoelectric Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China;
    b State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China
  • Received:2013-11-23 Revised:2013-12-13 Online:2014-02-26 Published:2014-02-26
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2013CB834605) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20923002).

Abstract:

We have performed a surface photocatalysis study of the molecularly adsorbed forms of methanol on a vacuum-annealed rutile TiO2(110)-(1×1) surface using temperature-programmed desorption both with and without coadsorbed water to investigate the effect of water and methanol on the photocatalytic dissociation of each other on rutile TiO2(110)-(1×1). Our experimental results show conclusively that methanol has no effect on photocatalytic water splitting with water covered rutile TiO2(110)-(1×1) surface. Further experimental results also show that water does not affect the process of photocatalytic methanol dissociation but does suppress photo-induced desorption of the formaldehyde product of methanol photocatalysis and can enhance the formation of the methyl formate product.

Key words: Methanol, Water, Rutile TiO2(110)-(1×1), Photocatalysis, Temperature-programmed desorption, Formaldehyde