Solar hydrogen production via pulse electrolysis of aqueous ammonium sulfite solution

    Authors

    C. P. Huang

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Sol. Energy

    Keywords

    Hydrogen; Solar water splitting; Pulse electrolysis; Ammonium sulfite; Thermochemical water splitting cycles; WATER; SYSTEM; ENERGY; CYCLES; HEAT; Energy & Fuels

    Abstract

    A long-standing challenge for hydrogen production via solar water splitting is the efficiency of converting solar energy to hydrogen chemical energy. Thermolysis, photocatalysis and electrolysis are three basic solar water splitting processes that utilize solar thermal, photonic and electrical energies. A technology using a combination of these processes can utilize a wider spectrum of solar radiation, thereby enhancing the efficiency of solar energy conversion. Due to the simplicity and maturity of photovoltaic (PV) cells and electrolyzer cells, solar hydrogen production via PV cells plus water electrolysis has been implemented and widely used as a bench mark process. The present study focuses on solar hydrogen production via direct current pulse electrochemical oxidation of aqueous ammonium sulfite solutions, one important step in solar sulfur ammonia (S-NH3) thermochemical water splitting cycles. The results show that pulsating electrolysis enhances the efficiency of hydrogen production. The effects of pulsating parameters (such as pulsating on time and off time, frequency and duty cycle) on hydrogen evolution rates are discussed in detail. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Solar Energy

    Volume

    91

    Publication Date

    1-1-2013

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    394

    Last Page

    401

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000318135700039

    ISSN

    0038-092X

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