Experimental study on the effects of light intensity on energy conversion efficiency of photo-thermo chemical synergetic catalytic water splitting

Abstract

Hydrogen production from water using a catalyst and solar energy was an ideal future fuel source. In this study, an elaborate experimental test rig of hydrogen production from solar water splitting was designed and established with selfcontrolled temperature system. The effects of light intensity on the reaction rate of hydrogen production from solar water splitting were experimentally investigated with the consideration of optical losses, reaction temperature, and photocatalysts powder cluster. Besides, a revised expression of full-spectrum solar-tohydrogen energy conversion efficiency with the consideration of optical losses was also put forward, which can be more accurate to evaluate the full-spectrum solar-to-hydrogen energy of photo-catalysts powders. The results indicated that optical losses of solar water splitting reactor increased with the increase of the incoming light intensity, and the hydrogen production rate increased linearly with the increase of effective light intensity even at higher light intensity region when the optical losses of solar water splitting reactor were considered.

Role of lamp type in conventional batch and micro-photoreactor for photocatalytic hydrogen production

“…Many research groups have already studied the influence of lamp intensity on photocatalytic efficiency ( Pansamut et al, 2013 ; Kumar and Pandey, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2020 ; Amakiri et al, 2021 ). In most cases, the authors reported that hydrogen production increased with the increasing intensity of irradiation used ( Baniasadi et al, 2013 ; Bell et al, 2013 ; Cheng et al, 2018 ). However, higher light intensities can cause much more significant energy losses instead of favoring the degradation of organic compounds.…”