Applied Catalysis A: General 268 (2004) 159–167

Production of hydrogen and oxygen by water splitting

using laser induced photo-catalysis over Fe2 O3
M.A. Gondal a,∗ , A. Hameed b , Zain H. Yamani c , A. Suwaiyan b
a Laser Research Section, Research Institute, Center for Applied Physical Sciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals,
KFUPM Box 372, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
b Chemistry Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
c Physics Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Received in revised form 10 March 2004; accepted 18 March 2004

Available online 6 May 2004

Abstract

Laser induced photocatalytic splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen has been studied. The activity of pure Fe2 O3 catalyst and various
electron capture agents, such as Fe3+ , Ag+ , Al+3 , and Li+ , in the water splitting process under the irradiation of a strong laser beam at 355 nm
has been investigated for the first time. The amounts of hydrogen and oxygen produced within a short span of time were quite substantial and
the photonic efficiency achieved using pure Fe2 O3 was much higher than the reported conventional lamp based photocatalysis techniques. The
yields of hydrogen and oxygen produced were affected considerably by the addition of electron capture agents. The highest electron capture
activity was observed for Fe3+ . In addition to monitoring the activity of the Fe2 O3 catalyst for hydrogen and oxygen production, pH changes
in the colloidal suspension during the photocatalytic process were also investigated. The parametric dependence of the yield as a function of
laser beam intensity, irradiation (exposure) time, and concentration of the active material was carefully studied.
© 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Water splitting; Photocatalysis; Iron oxide; Oxygen; Hydrogen; Clean fuels; Fuel cells; Lasers

1. Introduction semiconductor powder with energy equal to or greater than

The growing demand for clean fuels and new energy
sources triggers the research activities that focus on the de-
velopment of novel techniques for the generation of hydro-
gen and oxygen by splitting of water [1–6]. Heterogeneous
photocatalysis is one of the techniques applied for the gener-
ation of H2 and O2 in aqueous solution using semiconductor
catalysts. This photocatalytic technique is considered to be
feasible and attractive for practical purposes since one can
probably use the natural sun light as an irradiation source
in the future. Most of the previous work in this domain
has been carried out with broadband UV lamps, using pure
TiO2 or TiO2 based semiconductor powders as photocata-
lysts [7–10].
The photocatalytic process in water splitting is based upon
the illumination of the aqueous colloidal suspension of a
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +966-3-8602351; fax: +966-3-8604281.
E-mail address: magondal@kfupm.edu.sa (M.A. Gondal).
the band gap of the semiconductor [11–16]. When a pho-
ton (hν) interacts with a semiconductor particle, an electron
is excited from the valence band to the conduction band
leaving an electronic vacancy called (hvb + ). In an aqueous
suspension, a redox environment is produced which can ox-
idize water molecules. The primary oxidant that causes the
oxidation of water is the highly reactive hydroxyl radical
(OH• ). The activated electron reduces the adsorbed O2 and
H+ to produce OH•− or H2 . The hvb + oxidizes the surface
adsorbed H2 O or OH− and produces OH• . The activity of
the photocatalyst plays a significant role in the heteroge-
neous photocatalysis process [17–32].
Heterogeneous photocatalysis is still in the research stage
and there are important inherent problems that remain chal-
lenging. Hence, intensive research is still essential for the
improvement of photocatalytic performance in terms of
enhancing the photonic efficiency (yield of end products
per number of incident photons), higher overall produc-
tion rates and decrease in the reaction time. Our work on
photocatalysis using lasers has revealed that an important

0926-860X/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2004.03.030
160 M.A. Gondal et al. / Applied Catalysis A: General 268 (2004) 159–167
parameter which plays a pivotal role in the enhancement
of the activity of the catalyst is the irradiation source. Most
of the research work reported on photocatalysis is based on
use of conventional lamps [17–23]. Very little work on pho-
tocatalysis has been carried out with lasers [24]. Since laser
light has special properties like monochromaticity, high in-
tensity, and low beam divergence, it is of great interest to use
laser beams as an excitation source to study the activity of
photocatalysts.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, we
investigated the photocatalytic oxidation of water over pure
␣-Fe2 O3 as a semiconductor catalyst and in the presence of
metal ions like Fe3+ , Ag+ and Li+ . We selected water photo-
catalytic oxidation process due to the following reasons: (a)
to prove that a laser, as an excitation source, is efficient for
heterogeneous photocatalysis as compared to conventional
heterogeneous catalysis using strong UV lamps and (b) wa-
ter is more difficult to split due to the fairly high voltages
involved.
The ␣-Fe2 O3 catalyst has been selected due to the fact
that it is very stable in aqueous solutions. We investigated
the activity of this catalyst by monitoring the rate of evolved
gases i.e. hydrogen and oxygen and the pH changes in
the suspended aqueous solution as a result of irradiation
of the catalyst by a laser at 355 nm wavelength. This UV
laser wavelength was selected after performing the exper-
iments initially in the visible region at 514 nm using an
argon ion laser. Although the band gap of ␣-Fe2 O3 lies
in the visible region i.e. 2.2 eV, the photocatalytic activ-
ity recorded at our laboratory for water splitting, with the
visible laser as an excitation source, was very poor. This
has been also reported earlier using conventional spectral
sources like lamps [18]. We also investigated the depen-
dences of hydrogen and oxygen yields on catalyst concen-
tration, laser exposure time and laser beam intensity in the
case of pure ␣-Fe2 O3 and also in the presence of the metal
ions.
Fig. 1. Experimental setup for studying laser-induced photocatalytic water splitting over ␣-Fe2 O3 .
2. Experimental details
A schematic diagram of the laser photocatalytic reactor
is presented in Fig. 1. A special Pyrex cell (35 mm diameter
and 120 mm length), equipped with optical grade quartz
windows for transmission of UV and visible laser beam,
was fabricated. The cell was equipped with three ports and a
rubber septum for sampling. For the study of photocatalytic
splitting of water, 0.3 g of ␣-Fe2 O3 was suspended in 60 ml
of distilled water, whereas for water splitting studies in the
presence of electron capture agents, a 10 ppm solution of
each metal was prepared by dissolving the stoichiometric
amounts of metal nitrates in 1000 cm3 of doubly distilled
water. For the experiments in the presence of dissolved
metal ions, the solution of respective metal ions was used as
solvent. To measure the amounts of H2 and O2 produced, the
experiments were performed in an argon environment; a gas
chromatograph (Shimadzu, Model GC-17) equipped with
30 m molecular sieve 5A plot column and a TCD detector
was used. The carrier gas used for GC was also argon. The
evolved gases i.e. H2 and O2 were analyzed by removing
100 ␮l of gas sample from the dead volume of the photo-
catalytic reactor by using a gas tight syringe at regular time
intervals. In order to optimize the water splitting process, the
parametric dependence of dissolved oxygen yield on amount
of catalyst and on laser power was measured using an oxygen
meter (Hanna Model, HI 9143), while the rate of H2 and O2
production was based on the data collected with a gas chro-
matograph. The dependences of O2 and H2 yields on laser
exposure time and other relevant data were also collected
with a chromatograph. The oxygen meter was calibrated by
measuring the dissolved oxygen and comparing to a standard
gas chromatograph. Calibration was also done by a routine
procedure as prescribed by the manufacturer. Changes in
the pH of the solution during the laser irradiation were mea-
sured using a pH and conductivity meter (Hanna Model,
8519).
 M.A. Gondal et al. / Applied Catalysis A: General 268 (2004) 159–167
To induce the photocatalytic process for water splitting,
355 nm laser radiations were employed. The 355 nm high
power laser beam is generated from the third harmonic of
a Spectra Physics Nd: YAG laser (Model GCR 250). The
pulse width of the laser was ∼8 ns with a 10 Hz repetition
rate. Here it is important to mention that in order to min-
imize the effects of the focused laser beam itself the laser
beam diameter was adjusted at 10 mm. The laser beam was
directed into the center of the reaction chamber using a set of
mirrors and collimators. For all the measurements, the laser
beam diameter was kept constant at 10 mm. This precaution
was taken to ensure the exposure of the same volume of the
catalyst and to study the parametric dependence under the
same photon flux. All the experiments were performed for
a laser irradiation period of 90 min, except for the laser en-
ergy dependence experiments, which were performed for a
period of 15 min.
3. Results and discussion
In order to investigate the photocatalytic activity of the
␣-Fe2 O3 semiconductor catalyst for water splitting under the
influence of strong UV laser beam, various experiments were
performed. It was observed that, while using laser as light
source, the important parameters that influence the yield of
products during photocatalytic process are: (a) energy of the
incident laser radiation and (b) concentration of the photo-
catalyst. To optimize the above-mentioned parameters, we
obtained the parametric dependences of the product yield
as a function of laser energy, catalyst concentration and ex-
posure time for pure ␣-Fe2 O3. As a test case these studies
were carried out by measuring the yield of oxygen in the
350
300
250
Oxygen yield (µmol dm-3)
200
150
100
50
0
0 50
Fig. 2. The yield of O2 and H2 over pure ␣-Fe2 O3 plotted vs. the laser exposure time.
161
solution i.e. dissolved oxygen. In addition, the changes of
pH and the yields of the H+ as a function of laser exposure
time were also studied.
3.1. Effect of incident laser energy on product yield
An important parameter that affects product yield is the
incident laser energy. Fig. 2 depicts a typical plot the amount
of oxygen yield versus the laser energy for pure Fe2 O3 cat-
alysts at 355 nm laser irradiation. It can be noticed that the
oxygen yield shows strong dependence on the incident pho-
ton flux (laser energy). An exponential increase in the oxy-
gen yield has been observed in the 50–100 mJ laser energy
and the yield reached as high as 500% for ␣-Fe2 O3 catalyst
at 100 mJ incident laser energy as compared to the yield at
50 mJ. However the O2 yield remains almost constant for
100–200 mJ range. The initial increase of oxygen yield with
the laser energy could be attributed to the fact that the gener-
ation of electron–hole pairs increases with the incident laser
photon flux, which in turn enhances the water splitting pro-
cess to generate O2 . Although, the process of electron–hole
generation increases with the increased incident laser photon
flux, in the 100–200 mJ laser energy range the oxygen yield
remains constant. This is due to increased electron–hole re-
combination process which competes with the electron–hole
generation, impeding further increase of oxygen yield.
3.2. Effect of catalyst concentration on product yield
Another important parameter that affects the product yield
is the catalyst concentration. The dependence of production
yield on catalyst concentration was studied by keeping all
the other parameters, such as laser energy and laser exposure
100 150 200 250
Laser energy (mJ)
162 M.A. Gondal et al. / Applied Catalysis A: General 268 (2004) 159–167

270

260

250
Oxygen yield (µmol dm-3)

240

230

220

210

200

190
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Amount of catalyst (g)

Fig. 3. Dependence of O2 production on 355 nm laser energy.

time, constant. In this case, the oxygen yield for various hvb + + H2 O(ads) → H2 O+ → HO• + H+ (2)
concentrations of ␣-Fe2 O3 was measured by using the pro-
cedure mentioned above. Results are presented in Fig. 3, HO• + HO• → H2 O2 → H2 O + 21 O2 (3)
where a sharp increase in O2 yield can be noticed from 0.05
to 0.3 g and the yield shows slower dependence up to 0.4 g. ecb − + H+ → H• (4)

H• + H• → H2 (5)
3.3. Mechanism of H2 and O2 production over α-Fe2 O3
HO• + H• → H2 O(recombination) (6)
To study the change in H2 and O2 production with time,
we exposed pure ␣-Fe2 O3 to laser irradiation. H2 and O2 H2 + 21 O2 → H2 O(recombination) (7)
yields were recorded at regular time intervals keeping the
O2(ads) + ecb − → O2 •− (8)
rest of the parameters constant. Some important processes
associated with photocatalytic water splitting over ␣-Fe2 O3 H+ + O2 •− → H2 O• (9)
can be represented by the following set of equations.
A typical plot of H2 and O2 yields as a function of time is
α − Fe2 O3 + hυ(laser) → α − Fe2 O3 (ecb − , hvb − ) (1) presented in Fig. 4, where a high O2 yield as compared to that

8
Hydrogen
7 Oxygen

6
Gases evolved (mmol)

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (min)

Fig. 4. Dependence of O2 production on amount of ␣-Fe2 O3 catalyst.

 M.A. Gondal et al. / Applied Catalysis A: General 268 (2004) 159–167
of H2 can be observed. Although the valance band edge at
+2.4 V of ␣-Fe2 O3 is highly suitable for oxidizing water to
oxygen, the conduction band edge at +0.2 V shows its inabil-
ity to produce hydrogen from water. However, the production
of hydrogen and high yields of oxygen suggests some struc-
tural changes in ␣-Fe2 O3 with the absorption of monochro-
matic UV light that leads to the formation of hydrogen and
additional oxygen. Absorption of 355 nm UV laser photon
excites an electron from the valence band of oxygen (2p)
to the conduction band of Fe3+ (3d), causing the reduction
of Fe3+ to Fe2+ . This electron transfer process weakens the
Fe3+ –O bond allowing lattice oxygen to be driven out cre-
ating two FeO at the surface. The absorption of UV photons
induces the generation of electrons and holes in ␣-Fe2 O3.
The photo-generated holes oxidize water and produce oxy-
gen, while the photogenerated electrons cause the photode-
composition of ␣-Fe2 O3 creating FeO sites, with the release
of lattice oxygen as explained in the reaction given below.
α − Fe2 O3 + 2e− → 2FeO + 21 O2
The divalent FeO is a p-type semiconductor having a band
gap of 2.3 eV and the valance and conduction band edges at
+2.13 V and −1.7 V, respectively [33]. These photon gen-
erated FeO surface states behave independently as p-type
semiconductor and serve as electron trap and transfer sites
for hydrogen production.
Another reason for such a high yield of oxygen as com-
pared to H2 is the complete dissociation of the catalyst due
to the photo-corrosion. In this process, the catalyst under-
goes self-degradation under irradiation of high photon flux
of laser beam, contributing a large amount of O2 as illus-
trated by the reaction below
α − Fe2 O3 + 3hvb + → 2Fe3+ + 23 O2
It is clear from the above-mentioned mechanism that the
anodic decomposition of Fe2 O3 contributes significantly to
6.3
6.2
6.1
6
pH
5.9
5.8
5.7
5.6
0 1 2 3 4 5
Fig. 5. pH and [H+ ] changes plotted vs. laser exposure time for pure ␣-Fe2 O3 during the course of reaction.
163
the total oxygen produced during the photocatalytic oxida-
tion process. In addition, Fe3+ serves as a precursor for the
formation of Fe2+ which is capable of increasing the rate
of water oxidation by homogeneous photo-Fenton type re-
actions [34]. Based on the above discussion, there are three
major sources responsible for the high yield of oxygen (1)
anodic and cathodic decomposition of ␣-Fe2 O3 (2) photo-
catalytic oxidation of water by ␣-Fe2 O3 , and (3) photocat-
alytic oxidation of water by FeO.
3.4. Measurements of pH and H+ ion changes
It is well known that the pH of the solution influences
the surface charge, band edge position and to some extent
the particle size of the semiconductor particles. The rate
of photocatalytic reaction shows weak dependence on the
pH of the solution [28]. The experiments carried out in our
laboratory revealed that the measurement of pH changes
(10) during a photocatalytic process can give a deep insight of
the events occurring on the surface of the catalyst and in the
bulk. In this study, along with the determination of evolved
H2 and O2 , we also measured the pH changes at regular
intervals. The changes in pH and H+ ion concentration with
time are presented in Figs. 5 and 6 for pure Fe2 O3 and in
the presence of metal ions, respectively.
Fig. 6 shows a moderate change in pH during the course
of reaction, indicating only a slight change in the concen-
tration of H+ ions. It can be predicted that all the H+ ions
produced by the donation of electrons from water to the
photo-generated holes (Eq. (2)) immediately change to H.
and then to H2 through conduction band electron capture
process. The simultaneous formation of O2 and H2 in the
(11) solution at room temperature can affect the rate of O2 pro-
duction by enhancing the rate of recombination (Eq. (7)) to
form H2 O. Another reason for the decrease in the rate of
O2 production is explained by the pH measurements. The
0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
[H (µM)
-0.4
+
-0.5
-0.6
-0.7
-0.8
6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 90
Time (min)
164 M.A. Gondal et al. / Applied Catalysis A: General 268 (2004) 159–167
6.5
Fe2O3
5.5
5
pH
4.5
3.5
3
0 10 20
Fig. 6. pH plotted vs. laser exposure time in the presence of metal ions.
formation of O2 •− radical through the capture of conduc-
tion band electrons by the adsorbed O2 and its reaction with
H+ ions (Eq. (9)), already present in the solution, causes a
decrease in the rate of O2 generation and an increase in the
pH of the system.
3.5. Effect of metal ions on hydrogen and
oxygen production
In order to further support the significance of pH mea-
surements and to explain the events that occur in the solu-
tion, we studied the H2 and O2 production in the presence
of metal ions such a Fe3+ , Ag+ and Li+ . In a photocatalytic
process, metal ions are used as electron–hole recombination
inhibitors, and they are selected on the basis of reduc-
tion potentials. The ions, which have reduction potentials
more positive than the conduction band potential of the
semiconductor, act as electron scavengers and are termed
“electron capture agents” [28]. The ions which have the
negative reduction potential, as compared to the conduction
band potential of the semiconductor, cannot capture the
conduction band electrons directly and are unable to work
as electron capture agents [28]. The effect of these metal
ions on H2 and O2 yields is presented in Figs. 7 and 8
respectively.
The expected increase and decrease in the O2 and H2
production respectively, in the presence of Fe3+ and Ag+
reveals the suitability of the reduction potentials of these
ions for conduction band electron capture processes. The
decrease in pH in the presence of these ions, as presented in
Fig. 6, also confirms the same point. The sustained increase
in O2 concentration in the presence of Fe3+ (Fig. 8) suggests
the regenerative behavior of Fe3+ /Fe2+ couple through the
reactions given below.
Fe+3 Ag+ Li+
30 40 50 60 70
Time (min)
Fe3+ + ecb − → Fe2+ (12)
Fe2+ + h+ → Fe3+ (13)
Another pathway for the regeneration of Fe3+ sug-
gested in the literature [30,31] is the homogeneous
Fenton-type reactions to produce additional OH radicals:
i.e.
Fe2+ + H2 O2 + H+ → Fe3+ + HO• + O2 (14)
The above-mentioned reaction suggests an increase in
oxygen production by enhancing the production of hydroxyl
radicals and the depletion of H+ ions, contributing the low
yield of hydrogen.
Ag+ has also shown high efficiency as an electron scav-
enger, but the effect on the rate of O2 formation is much
lower than Fe3+ (Fig. 8). The effect of Ag+ may be the same
as Fe3+ , but Ag0 formed by the reaction below does not
show the same regenerative behavior as Fe2+ and remains
on the surface of the catalyst [28].
Ag+ + ecb − → Ag0 (15)
The decrease in the O2 production with time can be at-
tributed to the depletion of Ag+ in the solution. Although
the photo-deposited Ag0 on the catalyst surface improves
the charge separation, it is not as efficient as Ag+ [28]. An
initial decrease in pH causes the protonation of surface O−
and HO− groups that inhibits further Ag+ adsorption on the
surface. Also, the reaction of Ag+ ions with super-oxide rad-
icals present in the solution to form Ag2 O, is another cause
of the depletion of oxygen.
Li+ have higher negative reduction potentials compared
to the conduction band potentials of ␣-Fe2 O3 . The high neg-
ative values of reduction potentials show the inability of the
two ions to capture conduction band electrons that require
 M.A. Gondal et al. / Applied Catalysis A: General 268 (2004) 159–167 165

Fe2O3

2.5 Ag+

Fe+3

2 Li+
H2 evolved (mmol)

1.5

0.5

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (min)

Fig. 7. Effect of dissolved metal ions on H2 yield.

positive reduction potentials. Li+ ions are highly reactive
and have reactivity values comparable to that of H+ . The
initial sharp increase in the rate is due to the separation
of charges induced by the surface adsorbed ions. With the
progress of reaction and the formation of the species like
super-oxide radicals (O2 − ), the removal of Li+ ions as Li2 O
is most likely.
The efficiency of a photo-catalytic process is measured
on the basis of its ability to convert the photons in desired
products. In this study we estimated the photonic efficien-
cies (PE) for the photo-oxidation of water to H2 and O2 ,
over ␣-Fe2 O3 in the presence and absence of metal ions,
by considering the number of photons involved in each pro-
cess. The formation of oxygen is a four-photon processes,
as shown below.
2H2 O + 4hυ → 2H2 + O2 (16)
The plots PE as a function of laser exposure time for H2
and O2 are given in Figs. 9 and 10. It was observed that for
pure Fe2 O3 the photonic efficiency for H2 and O2 production
initially increases rapidly, reaches to a maximum value and
then starts decreasing gradually. The decrease in photonic
efficiency is mainly due to the presence of H+ ions and O2
simultaneously in the solution. The photonic efficiency for
H2 production over pure Fe2 O3 was 30%. A decrease in pho-
tonic efficiency for hydrogen production for Fe3+ and Ag+

Fe2O3
3.5
Ag+

3 Fe+3

Li+
O2 evolved (mmol)

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (min)

Fig. 8. Effect of dissolved metal ions on O2 yield.

166 M.A. Gondal et al. / Applied Catalysis A: General 268 (2004) 159–167

35

Fe2O3
30
Fe+3

Ag+
25
Li+

20
PEH2 (%)

15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (min)

Fig. 9. Photonic efficiency for H2 production in the presence of metal ions.

ions verifies the behavior of these ions as electron capture
agents. For Ag+ and Li+ , initially the photonic efficiency
for H2 increases, but it decreases afterwards, suggesting the
depletion of these ions with time.
For O2 production, the maximum photonic efficiencies
40 and 50% were observed for pure ␣-Fe2 O3 and in the
presence of Fe3+ ions, respectively. The minimum photonic
efficiency of less than 30% was observed for Ag+ . It is
worth mentioning that the photonic efficiencies achieved in
this work are higher than those reported in the literature for
different catalysts [10–13]. The high photonic efficiencies
for oxygen production predict that under the exposure of
strong laser radiation, a fraction of the ␣-Fe2 O3 will undergo
photo-corrosion processes. In this process, the catalyst un-
dergoes self-oxidation and releases additional oxygen, and
this leads to higher photonic efficiencies. The photocatalytic
processes with such high photonic efficiencies are not prob-
able with conventional lamps [1–13]. The excitation spec-
trum of lamps usually cover a broad spectral range in the
visible and ultra-violet, a good part of which has less photon
energy than the catalyst band gap and is, therefore, not ab-
sorbed by the catalyst. A monochromatic laser emitting the
ultra-violet rays has photon energy that allows absorption
by the catalyst. Moreover, in practice, lamps have only part
of their 4π radiance focused on the sample. Laser beams,
on the other hand, are highly directional, and can be aimed
to fall totally on the sample. These two factors make the in-
tensity of absorbed light in the catalyst much greater in a

60

Fe2O3 Fe+3 Ag+ Li+

50

40
PEO2 (%)

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (min)

Fig. 10. Photonic efficiency for O2 production in the presence of metal ions.
 M.A. Gondal et al. / Applied Catalysis A: General 268 (2004) 159–167
suitable laser than with conventional lamps; hence, greater
photo-corrosion is observed with lasers.
It is worth emphasizing that our study has showed that
the laser photocatalytic process is much faster and more ef-
ficient compared to conventional UV lamp based heteroge-
neous photocatalysis. It is also important to mention that the
photocatalytic activity achieved in this work for production
of oxygen using ␣-Fe2 O3 is higher than the values for other
semiconductor powders reported in the literature.
4. Conclusions
The study revealed that ␣-Fe2 O3 is a highly active cata-
lyst for splitting water into H2 and O2 in the near UV region.
The photocatalytic splitting of water, using 355 nm UV laser
radiations, is highly efficient and much faster (∼in minutes)
than the conventional lamps (hours and days) results reported
in previous studies. The study proved that ␣-Fe2 O3 has the
best photocatalytic activity for O2 production through water
splitting in the presence of Fe3+ as an electron scavenger.
Study of changes in pH and H+ ion concentration during
the course of reaction has proved to be significant in under-
standing the functioning mechanism of electron scavengers
and other metal ions.
Acknowledgements
The support by the Research Institute and Chemistry De-
partment of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Miner-
als is gratefully acknowledged. This work is a part of the
Research Project # SABIC-2002/1 funded by Saudi Basic
Industries (SABIC).
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