Nickel Phthalocyanine@graphene Oxide/TiO2 As an Efficient Degradation Catalyst of Formic Acid Toward Hydrogen Production

Abstract A new photocatalytic system was introduced to degrade formic acid toward hydrogen production using nickel(II) phthalocyanine (NiPc)@graphene oxide (GO)/TiO 2 as the catalyst. Synthesis of NiPc was performed in the presence of GO leading to a homogeneous distribution of NiPc on GO. While TiO 2 promoted the reaction using each of NiPc and GO under visible light, the reaction was carried out with superior rate using NiPc@GO/TiO 2 . In this reaction, GO minimizes the band gap of semiconductor, TiO 2 , through contributing its Fermi levels and NiPc escalates the photocatalytic reaction under visible light as a sensitizing agent. The reaction released hydrogen with the rate of 1.38 mmol.h − 1 and TOF = 77 h − 1 .