Date Thesis Awarded
5-2021
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Science (BS)
Department
Chemistry
Advisor
William R. McNamara
Committee Members
Douglas D. Young
Deborah C. Bebout
Sarah Menefee
Abstract
AP systems for hydrogen generation can be improved by the integration of naturally abundant materials as sacrificial donors. Previous reporting illustrates the potential for humic acids to serve as electron donor reagents but offers challenges such as inhibitory effects on hydrogen generation and lack of efficient pretreatment processes. Recent work describes a new oxic-anoxic process for initial pretreatment of HA and subsequent photocatalytic hydrogen generation with the resulting intermediate compounds. A modified HA pretreatment process can potentially be applied to previously described photocatalytic systems with iron catalysts for the integration of a less expensive electron donor into the AP system. This work provides a guide for the future design and optimization of systems for photocatalytic hydrogen generation. By integrating easily accessible and low-cost NOM as the sacrificial electron donor, systems for AP will become more commercially viable than ever.
Recommended Citation
Moyer, Allison, "Humic Acids as Sacrificial Electron Donors for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation" (2021). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 1642.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1642
