Photoelectrochemical generation of hydrogen using organic pollutants in water as sacrificial electron donors

This paper describes hydrogen evolution from a photoelectrochemical cell using organic pollutants as sacrificial electron donors. A compartmentalized photoelectrosynthetic cell constituting an illuminated TiO2 photoanode and a Pt cathode has been designed and found to discharge H+ as H-2 at the Pt cathode and simultaneously destroy organic pollutants in the photoanode compartment under short-circuit conditions.