New Solar Panel Converts Water Into Hydrogen and Oxygen With 9% Efficiency

A new type of solar panel converted water into hydrogen and oxygen with 9% efficiency, duplicating a critical phase in natural photosynthesis.

Outside, it marks a significant advancement in technology, being roughly ten times more efficient than previous solar water-splitting efforts.

Cheap, sustainable hydrogen through solar power

(Photo : American Public Power Association/Unsplash)

The greatest advantage is lowering the cost of sustainable hydrogen. This is made possible by downsizing the semiconductor, which is normally the costliest component of the device, as per ScienceDaily.

The self-healing semiconductor developed by scientists can resist focused light equivalent to 160 suns.

Humans now create hydrogen from the fossil fuel methane, consuming a significant amount of fossil energy in the process.

Plants, on the other hand, use sunshine to extract hydrogen atoms from water.

As mankind attempts to lessen its carbon footprint, hydrogen is appealing as a standalone fuel as well as a component in sustainable fuels derived from recovered carbon dioxide.

It is also required in various chemical operations, including the production of fertilizers.

"In the end, we expect that artificial photosynthesis devices will be considerably more efficient than natural photosynthesis, providing a road toward carbon neutrality," said Zetian Mi, a U-M electrical and computer engineering professor who led the study published in Nature.

The remarkable outcome is the product of two advancements. The first is the capacity to focus sunlight without harming the semiconductor that captures it.

"We lowered the size of the semiconductor by more than 100 times compared to some semiconductors that only function at a low light intensity," said Peng Zhou, the study's first author and a U-M research fellow in electrical and computer engineering. "Our method might manufacture very inexpensive hydrogen."

The second method involves using both the higher energy part of the solar spectrum to split water and the lower energy part of the spectrum to create heat that promotes the reaction.

The magic is achieved by a semiconductor catalyst that improves with usage, overcoming the deterioration that such catalysts typically endure when used to drive chemical processes with sunlight.

It can flourish at high temperatures that are punitive to computer chips, in addition to enduring high light intensities.

Higher temperatures hasten the water-splitting process while also encouraging hydrogen and oxygen to remain separate rather than renewing their bonds and creating water again. Both of these aided the team in obtaining additional hydrogen.

Zhou used a lens the size of a home window to focus sunlight onto an experimental panel only a few inches wide for the outside experiment.

The semiconductor catalyst was coated in a layer of water within that panel, bubbling with the hydrogen and oxygen gasses it separated.

The catalyst is made of nanostructures of indium gallium nitride grown on a silicon surface.

The light is captured by the semiconductor wafer, which converts it into free electrons and holes in positively charged spaces left behind when electrons are freed by the light.

The nanostructures are riddled with tiny metal balls 1/2000th of a millimeter in diameter that employs electrons and holes to assist steer the reaction.

Read more: Biobattery for Hydrogen Storage Developed by Microbiologists in New Study

The Benefits Of Hydrogen Will Help Move Us To A Sustainable Energy Economy

The usage of hydrogen cuts pollutants significantly. In a fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen combine to create energy in the form of electricity, as per Hydrogen Energy Center.

This electricity may be utilized to power cars, as a source of heat, and for a variety of other purposes.

The benefit of employing hydrogen as an energy carrier is that it only produces water and heat when combined with oxygen.

The utilization of hydrogen fuel cells produces no greenhouse gases or other pollutants.

Hydrogen may be generated locally from a variety of sources. Hydrogen can be created centrally and then dispersed, or it can be produced on-site where it will be needed.

Methane, gasoline, biomass, coal, or water may all be used to create hydrogen gas. Each of these sources produces varying levels of pollution, technological hurdles, and energy requirements.

We have a sustainable manufacturing system if hydrogen is created from water. The process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is known as electrolysis.

Renewable energy may be used to power electrolyzers, which convert water into hydrogen. Using renewable energy creates a sustainable, nonpolluting system that is independent of petroleum products.

Wind, hydro, solar, and tidal energy are some of the renewable energy sources utilized to power electrolyzers.

After being created in an electrolyzer, hydrogen may be utilized to generate energy in a fuel cell. Water and heat are byproducts of the fuel cell process.

When operating at high temperatures, the system can be configured as a co-generator, with waste energy used for heating.