Hydrogen Generation
Hydrogen will be the candidate alternate energy source for transportation in the event of complete depletion of natural oil resources. Burning of hydrogen results in release of energy (about 114 MJ/kg) and the byproduct is water. Typically one kilogram of hydrogen is equivalent to one gallon of gasoline. Producing hydrogen from water using solar energy is considered “Holy Grail” since water and solar light are abundant.
Electrolysis of water produces hydrogen and oxygen which requires a minimum electrical potential of about 1.7 V. the required electrical energy can be derived from photovoltaic cell. In this case we are dealing with two individual cells; 1. A photovoltaic cell that converts solar energy into electrical energy and 2. An electrolysis cell consisting of two electrodes (made of nickel or preferably platinum) to split water. It is possible to combine these two systems into one and split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
EMD Technologies, LLC is actively involved in designing and developing photo electrode materials that satisfy all the above requirements and achieve the USDOE set photo conversion efficiency (solar to hydrogen) of at least 10%. It is clear that a single semiconductor material cannot possess all the required properties. Therefore a combinatorial approach is in order.
