The World Energy Issue is a complex challenge. A promising solution is the design of Smart Grids grounded on renewable energy resources and an energy vector like hydrogen. In our group, we are performing experiments for the production of hydrogen from a mixture of water and bio-ethanol through sono-photolysis. We have synthesized new solid solutions of rare earth, gallium and indium oxides to be used as photocatalysts. When these heterogeneous catalysts are suspended in water-bioethanol mixture and are irradiated by solar light and ultrasounds of 38 kHz as frequency, they produce hydrogen with an interesting synergistic effect. Since our photocatalysts absorb at most up to 500 nm, in order to reduce the waste of solar light, we are studying up-converter composite materials. An up-converter transforms pairs of photons of low frequency in single photons of higher frequencies that can be absorbed by our photocatalysts. The up-conversion is a promising strategy to increase the yields of hydrogen production.
The World Energy Issue: a complex challenge. the contribution of photocatalytic water splitting
GENTILI, Pier Luigi;PENCONI, MARTA;ROSSI, Federico;ORTICA, Fausto;ELISEI, Fausto
2015
Abstract
The World Energy Issue is a complex challenge. A promising solution is the design of Smart Grids grounded on renewable energy resources and an energy vector like hydrogen. In our group, we are performing experiments for the production of hydrogen from a mixture of water and bio-ethanol through sono-photolysis. We have synthesized new solid solutions of rare earth, gallium and indium oxides to be used as photocatalysts. When these heterogeneous catalysts are suspended in water-bioethanol mixture and are irradiated by solar light and ultrasounds of 38 kHz as frequency, they produce hydrogen with an interesting synergistic effect. Since our photocatalysts absorb at most up to 500 nm, in order to reduce the waste of solar light, we are studying up-converter composite materials. An up-converter transforms pairs of photons of low frequency in single photons of higher frequencies that can be absorbed by our photocatalysts. The up-conversion is a promising strategy to increase the yields of hydrogen production.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
