Researchers at Monash University have designed a solar fuel generating device that has established a new record in energy efficiency for the production of solar fuels.
The new device can produce hydrogen fuel at 22 per cent energy efficiency, breaking the previous record of 18 per cent.
Professor Leone Spiccia explained that the process of splitting water generates hydrogen and oxygen by passing an electric current through water.
“Electrochemical splitting of water could provide a cheap, clean and renewable source of hydrogen as the ultimately sustainable fuel. This latest breakthrough is significant in that it takes us one step further towards this becoming a reality”.
Another researcher explained how hydrogen is the ultimate in clean fuels since it contains no carbon and produces no carbon dioxide.
There is intense interest in the solar driven conversion of water to hydrogen as a means of achieving the sustainable generation of a practical fuel. It is widely considered that such “Artificial Photosynthesis” processes need to achieve an energy conversion efficiency exceeding 10% to have practical impact.
Although some solar-driven fuel generating systems have reached efficiencies as high as 18%, they are often based on precious metal catalysts, or offer only limited stability.
Now, researchers describe a system that utilises concentrated solar power, which is inexpensive to produce. This system delivers the highest efficiency reported to date, in excess of 22%.
This simple and adaptable system addresses key criteria for the large-scale deployment of an artificial photosynthesis device.
“Hydrogen can be used to generate electricity directly in fuel cells. Cars driven by fuel cell electric engines are becoming available from a number of car manufacturers. Hydrogen could even be used as an inexpensive energy storage technology at the household level to store energy from roof-top solar cells,” Professor MacFarlane said.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science is a group of more than 100 researchers across six locations in Australia, whose goal is to make sustainable energy sources cheaper and more accessible, to help society cope with the increasingly serious climate change and ocean acidification issues stemming from fossil fuel use.
The research was published in the leading journal Energy and Environmental Science.
