The discovery advances the effort to develop new ways to produce hydrogen fuel from water; The research findings change the prevailing perception and outline a new way through which it will be possible to engineer the water splitting process in an efficient and economical way
A new study published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications presents a breakthrough in the study of the mechanism of action of photoelectrodes for splitting water in order to produce hydrogen. A team of researchers led by Dr. Eric Yochelis and Dr. Iris Visoli-Fisher from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Prof. Avner Rothschild from the Technion deciphered for the first time the chemical mechanism that occurs during the photoelectrochemical splitting of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the surface of iron oxide photoelectrodes.
The car companies put a lot of effort into developing vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel, which is considered efficient and environmentally friendly and, unlike an electric vehicle, enables quick refueling and a long driving range. In order to produce hydrogen in a clean way that does not emit greenhouse gases, it is necessary to split water molecules (H2O) into the elements of which they are composed: two hydrogen atoms (H2) and one oxygen atom (O). However, this process involves the use of precious metals to speed up the chemical reaction and the investment of a lot of electrical energy, so it is not economically and energetically profitable.
An alternative way to produce hydrogen from water uses the energy of sunlight as a substitute for electrical energy, when the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen is carried out in a photo-electrochemical solar cell. At the heart of the cell is a photoelectrode that absorbs the sun's radiation and converts it into chemical energy, the penny in the hydrogen created in the process. To this end, it is necessary to develop special semiconductor materials with high resistance in corrosive environmental conditions, conditions that cause most materials to break down by themselves. Ironically, one of the most promising materials for this use is an iron oxide compound that is a major component of rust. This material combines a number of properties that indicate a potential ability to be used as a photoelectrode for splitting water, but the road to developing a technology for the commercial production of hydrogen using this method is still far away and it entails fundamental scientific questions and engineering challenges.
A new perspective on photoelectrochemical reactions
The research began with experiments conducted in the laboratory of Prof. Avner Rothschild by the researcher Dr. Chen Dotan from the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering at the Technion, in which surprising results were obtained that contradicted the popular belief regarding the mechanism of action of photoelectrodes. After further examination of the results in the laboratory of Prof. Rothschild and Dr. Iris Wisoli-Fisher from the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at the university, and the development of a theoretical model by Dr. Eric Yochelis and post-doctoral student Dr. Yotam Avital, the team of researchers found together that there is a need for a number Reaction sites that communicate with each other in a mutual interaction leading to the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide molecules in water. The research findings change the prevailing perception and outline a new way through which it will be possible to engineer the water splitting process in an efficient and economical way.
"Beyond the scientific breakthrough, we showed that the reaction mechanism belongs to an important family of chemical reactions for which the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Prof. Gerhard Ertl about a decade ago," explains the research leader Dr. Eric Yoglis from the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research and the Department of Physics at the University of Ben- Gurion "This discovery opens a new perspective on photoelectrochemical reactions".
The research was conducted with the support of research grants from the Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water, and the Ministry of Science.
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The future lies in the energy of sea waves.
Their power is 800 times stronger than air.
The wind stations are getting buried.
Solar panels are expensive to maintain and have a limited lifespan.
Orphan and cobalt batteries pollute before production and after use!!!
The wave energy with all the problems, does not pollute and imitates the research of modular units that can be maintained on a mibaduk
Research in Israel brings the efficiency of hydrogen production to 98%.
An electric car with conventional batteries charged by a small 10 kilowatt hydrogen engine that weighs several tens of kg.
A 40 kW engine on the right will be enough for a heavy vehicle.
It will not be far today and at every gas station there will be a hydrogen production facility from the electricity produced from the sea!!!!!!!!
Itzik.
I'm sorry to disappoint you, what you describe is clearly not possible.
The amount of solar energy received by a gas station really will not be enough to fuel the amount of vehicles that pass through the gas station.
And that's even if they manage to convert 100 of the sun's energy into breaking down water (and if we also ignore the energy needed to compress the hydrogen)
When you read a lot about technological developments, sometimes you have the feeling that there is no end to the possible technological development. But the truth is painful, there are physical limits that cannot be crossed.
Energy is one of those points.
Energy will forever be a limited resource that is always regrettable.
(Even controlled fusion, which was once a dream for an endless source of energy for free. It is clear today that even if it is possible, it will only be in huge facilities that are very expensive to build and operate, and certainly will not generate electricity for free)
It seems to me a great way to create and store solar energy during daylight hours, and use it efficiently at the same site during consumption hours. This way you don't have to flow the energy into the grid during production and then pay the electricity company for consumption during other hours. You also don't have to deal with expensive and complicated transportation of the hydrogen to other places.
I personally believe that there will be no need for a hydrogen vehicle in the end.
It seems to me that electric batteries will improve in the coming years enough to eliminate the need for hydrogen, which is a more cumbersome solution and raises difficult safety questions (even if solvable)
Batteries also have to overcome some challenges to completely replace the polluting fuels.
Mainly energy density and charging speed without compromising safety. (In addition, there are other challenges such as improving the lifespan, reducing the price and reducing the ecological fingerprint in production and at the end of the battery's life)
But with all the challenges, it seems to me that they will be solved before the problems of hydrogen-based fuel cells. The batteries also have other advantages such as the possibility of recharging in a home parking lot.
And that this is a technology that already exists in mass-produced cars (a thing that finance is very far from)
Hydrogen technology suffers from another major disadvantage, which is the need for a huge investment in infrastructure. There is a need to build factories for the production of hydrogen and build fueling stations. It seems to me that it is much cheaper to add charging stations at existing gas stations (in the beginning a few stations and over time they will add more at the expense of refueling stations) than to adapt a gas station for hydrogen refueling with all the additional safety systems that will be required.
One day all the gas stations will need is to be connected to the water network, the separation will take place on site as needed and they will also profit from the oxygen tanks they will sell.