Researchers at Shinshu University have developed a groundbreaking reactor system that can create hydrogen fuel using sunlight and water. This could be a big step toward producing hydrogen sustainably without relying on fossil fuels. The 1,076-square-foot reactor uses photocatalytic panels in a two-step process to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
This system is different from the usual one-step methods because it separates the production of hydrogen and oxygen into two phases. This two-step process leads to better solar-to-hydrogen conversion rates than traditional systems, which often depend on natural gas to refine hydrogen.
The reactor showed some surprising benefits when exposed to natural sunlight during testing. It achieved around 50 percent higher solar energy conversion efficiency under real-world conditions than it did in lab settings. Professor Kazunari Domen, the senior author of the study published in Frontiers in Science, believes this improvement is due to regional differences in the components of the solar spectrum.
However, despite these promising results, the system's efficiency still needs to catch up to what's needed for commercial use. It now converts about 1 percent of sunlight into hydrogen fuel under standard conditions. Still, experts say at least 5 percent efficiency is necessary for it to be viable on a larger scale. The team emphasizes that reaching this target will require developing better photocatalysts and scaling up their reactors.
The technology also tackles safety issues linked to hydrogen production. The researchers have designed the system with specific features to reduce the risk of explosions when handling oxyhydrogen, like using narrow compartments and soft PVC plastics for containment.
Professor Domen points out that improving how efficiently solar energy is converted into chemical energy could help speed up the development of mass production technologies, gas separation processes, and larger-scale facilities.
The successful three-year operation of this proof-of-concept reactor marks a significant leap toward making hydrogen fuel more sustainable. If this technology can be further developed, it could move us away from fossil fuels in hydrogen production.
Source(s)
EurekaAlert (in English)