Silver Bromide as a Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Generation from CH3OH/H2O Solution

A AgBr/SiO 2 catalyst prepared from Schumann emulsion has been used for photolysis of CH 3 OH/H 2 O solution. Under UV illumination, H 2 generation was observed and hydrogen was continuously evolved for 200 h without destruction of AgBr although Ag 0 was detected by X-ray diffraction analysis after the reaction. It is presumed that the hydrogen production from methanol in distilled water occurs on the Ag 0 and the support plays important roles for the photocatalysis as well as TiO 2 /SiO 2 ( J. Phys. Chem. B 1997, 101, 2611).