News on June 18,Tianjin University announced that the new energy chemical engineering team of its School of Chemical Engineering has achieved important results in the field of bias-free photoelectrochemical water splitting for hydrogen production.He developed an efficient and stable translucent photoanode device to improve the water oxidation reaction rate and hydrogen production efficiency. The paper was published in "Nature - Communications".
Although solar energy is clean and sustainable, it is intermittent. Bias-free solar water splitting technology can convert solar energy into hydrogen, which is a potential way to deal with energy and environmental issues. However, the photoanode water oxidation reaction is slow, which has become a development bottleneck.
The translucent indium sulfide photoanode developed by the Tianjin University team has unique transparent properties, which can increase the reaction rate, reduce the loss of sunlight energy, and solve the problem.
Experiments show thatThe device reaches a solar-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency of 5.10% in an independent system, setting a record for similar systems.
This achievement provides a new solution for the design of translucent photoanode. In the future, better "artificial leaves" may be available, which can be used on building exterior walls and roofs to build "sunshine hydrogen production stations" in deserts.
