1. 1
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Energy Technologies and
Research Trends
Michael Davis
ME 5390-005
MAE 4301-005
Solar Water Splitting

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Photoelectrochemcial Water Splitting
• Top – Anode/Oxidation
• Bottom-Cathode/Hydrogen
generation
• RHE – Reversible Hydrogen
Electrode
• Involves Catalyst on both sides
• Uses PEM membrane to separate
oxygen and hydrogen
(Marshall, 2014)

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Issues
Cost of Production:
•$2.00 per liter production from Natural
Gas
•$6.50 per liter for photo-
electrochemical production per liter
(Van Noorden, 2012)
Slow oxygen evolution:
Most research is on the anode
Deterioration in aqueous
environment
Mechanical Issues:
Compression and Transport of
Gasses; Piping Networks
Taken from: (Miller, Garland, & Perret, 2008)

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DOE Testing Procedure
Taken from: (Miller, Garland, & Perret, 2008)

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Current Research
• Artificial Leaf is a photoelectrochemcial process
• This process is a premier choice for hydrogen production in
the future
• Materials – Metal Oxides and Composite Metal Oxides
• Morphology (nano-scale)
• Efficiency
• Band Gap for light absorption
• Electron Transport
• Diffusion Length

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Research Trends - Materials
(James, Baum, Baum, & Gs-f-j, 2009)
(Devices, Mckone, Lewis, & Gray, 2014)

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Morphologies
• Nano Rods by APCVD (Chiam et al., 2014)
• Bi-layered thin films (Choudhary et al., 2012)
• Porous Structures (De Respinis et al., 2013)(De Tacconi et al., 2006)
• Nanowires / Nanotrees (Liu, Tang, Chen, Liu, & Yang, 2013)
• Nanoplatelets (Marelli et al., 2014)
• Nanofibers / Nanoparticles (Regonini et al., 2013)
Nanofibers / Nanoparticles (Regonini
et al., 2013)
Nanoplatelets (Marelli et al., 2014)
Nanowires / Nanotrees
(Liu, Tang, Chen, Liu, & Yang, 2013)

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Novel Aspect / Discovery and Product Idea
Hematite manufactured with the Sol-Gel Electrospinning technique
(may not have been quantified)
Product Idea:
Put less efficient hydrogen photoelectrochemcial cells
On the market to provide a source of fuel for a hydrogen
Power generator that would work in unison with other technologies
(comprehensive approach to home power sources)

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References
Chiam, S. Y., Kumar, M. H., Bassi, P. S., Seng, H. L., Barber, J., & Wong, L. H. (2014). Improving the E
ffi ciency of Hematite Nanorods for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting by Doping with Manganese.
Choudhary, S., Upadhyay, S., Kumar, P., Singh, N., Satsangi, V. R., Shrivastav, R., & Dass, S. (2012).
Nanostructured bilayered thin films in photoelectrochemical water splitting - A review. International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 37(24), 18713–18730. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.10.028
De Respinis, M., De Temmerman, G., Tanyeli, I., Van De Sanden, M. C. M., Doerner, R. P., Baldwin, M.
J., & Van De Krol, R. (2013). Efficient plasma route to nanostructure materials: Case study on the use of
m-WO3 for solar water splitting. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 5(15), 7621–7625.
doi:10.1021/am401936q
De Tacconi, N. R., Chenthamarakshan, C. R., Yogeeswaran, G., Watcharenwong, a., De Zoysa, R. S.,
Basit, N. a., & Rajeshwar, K. (2006). Nanoporous TiO2 and WO3 films by anodization of titanium and
tungsten substrates: Influence of process variables on morphology and photoelectrochemical response.
Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 110(50), 25347–25355. doi:10.1021/jp064527v
Devices, W. S. W., Mckone, J. R., Lewis, N. S., & Gray, H. B. (2014). Will Solar-Driven Water-Splitting
Devices See the Light of Day? Chemistry of Materials.
James, B. D., Baum, G. N., Baum, K. N., & Gs-f-j, D. O. E. C. N. (2009). Technoeconomic Analysis of
Photoelectrochemical ( PEC ) Hydrogen Production Prepared by :, 22201(December).

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References cont:
Liu, C., Tang, J., Chen, H. M., Liu, B., & Yang, P. (2013). A Fully Integrated Nanosystem of
Semiconductor Nanowires for Direct Solar Water Splitting, (Figure 1), 2–5.
Marelli, M., Naldoni, a, Minguzzi, a, Allieta, M., Virgili, T., Scavia, G., … Dal Santo, V. (2014).
Hierarchical hematite nanoplatelets for photoelectrochemical water splitting. ACS Appl Mater
Interfaces, 2. doi:10.1021/am5030287
Marshall, J. (2014). Springtime for the artificial leaf. Nature, 510, 22–24. doi:10.1038/510022a
Miller, E. L., Garland, R., & Perret, R. (2008). The US DOE WORKING GROUP ON. Group.
Regonini, D., Teloeken, A. C., Alves, A. K., Berutti, F. A., Bergmann, C. P., Graule, T., &
Clemens, F. (2013). Electrospun TiO 2 Fiber Composite Photoelectrodes for Water Splitting.
Van Noorden, R. (2012). “Artificial leaf” faces economic hurdle. Nature, 6–7.
doi:10.1038/nature.2012.10703