Water splitting under catalysts and sunlight, called photocatalysis has been a promising method of achieving solar hydrogen production for decades. However, most previous attempts only yielded an external quantum efficiency of less than about 50% representing the difficulty in efficient catalyst design for real world use. The catalyst needed to be designed better so every absorbed photon from the light source is used to make hydrogen. The key to improving efficiency was strategic placement of the co-catalysts and preventing defects in the semiconductor.

Broke through new frontiers in power production by using aluminum-doped strontium titanate as a photocatalyst, whose properties have been extensively studied and therefore the best understood. They choose co-catalysts rhodium for hydrogen with chromium oxide, and cobalt-oxide for oxygen, by fine-tuning them to engage in only desired reactions. This method made possible for the reaction to have no recombination losses.

These new findings open the doors to achieve scalable and economically viable solar hydrogen production. Their design strategies succeeded in reducing defects that lead to near perfect efficiency, and knowledge obtained will be applied to other materials with intense visible light absorption. More work is still needed before we can run our cars on hydrogen, because this study focused on the use of ultraviolet light and abundant visible light from the sun remained unused. However, this great breakthrough has made that possibility no longer too good to be true, but in theory, just a matter of time. Hopefully it will encourage scientists, researchers and engineers to engage in this field, bringing the use of solar hydrogen power that much closer.

[Source:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603104547.htm]

The development and utilization of renewable energy can strengthen environmental protection and create a new area for economic growth.

Bahtiyar Dursun conducted an assessment of the effect of renewable energy resources on regional development at the Thrace Region in Turkey and the survey was published on the journal Progress in Energy & Fuels.

In this study, energy concept, one of the most important inputs of regional development, is discussed. Current usage potential of the Thrace Region’s current energy sources is presented and the effects of renewable energy sources on regional development are studied when they are used.

The research shows that when a region has a renewable energy potential, establishing and running renewable energy sources-based power plants will have positive effects on regional development.

Read the full paper at:

http://ojs.piscomed.com/index.php/PEF/article/view/511