Systems that use solar energy to produce hydrogen include photolysis hydrogen production, solar power generation, and combined water electrolysis hydrogen production systems .
In traditional hydrogen production methods, hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels. more than 90% of the world total. Hydrogen production from fossil fuels primarily uses a combination of steam reforming and pressure swing adsorption to produce high purity hydrogen. The use of electric energy to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen also occupies a certain proportion. Solar hydrogen production has only developed over the past 30 to 40 years. So far, research on solar hydrogen production has mainly focused on the following technologies: thermochemical hydrogen production, hydrogen productionn of hydrogen by photoelectrochemical decomposition, photocatalytic hydrogen production, hydrogen production by artificial photosynthesis and biological hydrogen production.
How to use solar energy to split water into hydrogen?
Artificial photosynthesis simulates plant photosynthesis and uses sunlight to produce hydrogen. The specific process is: first, use metal complexes to decompose electrons and hydrogen ions in water; then, use solar energy to increase the energy of the electrons so that they can photosynthesize with the hydrogen ions in the water to produce hydrogen. The process of artificial photosynthesis is similar to water electrolysis, except that it uses solar energy instead of electricity. At present, only trace amounts of hydrogen can be prepared in the laboratory, and the utilization rate oflight energy is only 15-16%.
What type of energy conversion occurs during the process of producing hydrogen from solar energy?
In recent decades, Researchers have looked for unique catalysts to use. energy from the sun to produce hydrogen and extract hydrogen gas from water. These catalysts first absorb photon energy from the sun, then use that energy to accelerate the rate at which hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms in water molecules split, and the rate at which these two atoms form in turn water molecules is still very slow, so in the end there is hydrogen and oxygen coming from the water. Such catalysts are typically prepared from inorganic semiconductor materials, such as silicon used in computer chips. However, the operating efficiency of semiconductor catalysts is veryweak and consumes too much energy, making it impossible to enter the real areas of production and living.
Today, researchers are working hard to find catalysts that can absorb solar energy more efficiently, making them more powerful and faster at transporting electrons between atoms. Today, such a catalyst has been found, but it is no longer a semiconductor inorganic substance, but a biological super macromolecule, or a giant molecular complex. This giant molecular complex is mainly composed of two parts: two subunits called molecules. One part is responsible for absorbing photon energy from sunlight and the other part is responsible for obtaining free electrons.
With this supermolecular complex as the core, a special device can be formed that uses solar energy to extract hydrogen atoms from water. This method little cexpensive and efficient can produce a large amount of hydrogen to drive cars, planes, trains, etc. It can also be used to burn it with oxygen in the air to produce clean water and energy. Of course, it can also be used. manufacture fuel cells to produce electricity.
Systems that use solar energy to produce hydrogen include photolysis hydrogen production, solar power generation and electricity.Combined split hydrogen production system of water. Research on solar hydrogen production mainly focuses on the following technologies: thermochemical hydrogen production, photoelectrochemical decomposition hydrogen production, photocatalytic hydrogen production, artificial photosynthesis hydrogen production, and biological hydrogen production. . Direct solar thermal decomposition of water pOur production of hydrogen is the simplest method.