Round-the-Clock and Continuous Generation of Hydrogen and Oxygen

Abstract

The main methods of industrial hydrogen production are: steam restructuring of methane and natural gas; coal gasification; biotechnology; water electrolysis. The most efficient method for producing pure hydrogen and oxygen is to produce pure hydrogen and oxygen in a photoelectrochemical cell. A photoelectrochemical cell produces hydrogen and oxygen directly from solar energy. In a photoelectrochemical cell, a combined anode, made from silicon semiconductor and metal mesh with large cells, submerged in water electrolyte solution, agitated by four photons of light, forms an oxygen molecule, which in the form of a gas bubble lifts from the surface of anode to the free surface of the water electrolyte solution. Two hydrogen cations, formed because of the dissociation of water, reaching the cathode, form a gaseous hydrogen molecule, which, turn into an electrolysis bubble, lifts from surface of cathode to the free surface of the water electrolyte solution. The article presents a new method for round-the-clock and continuous generation of hydrogen and oxygen, using a developed photoelectrolyzer-generator, taking a horizontally located combine anode, made from silicon semiconductor and metal mesh with large cells and burnt graphite cathode (electrolysis base) at the bottom of the photoelectrolyzer-generator; a membrane from fire hose material, located between electrodes; device, regulating the gap between the electrodes. Round-the-clock and continuous production of hydrogen and oxygen in the photoelectrolyzer-generator is ensured by using lamp, including LED with a daylight battery charger as a useful electrical load, which brightens the combined anode, made from silicon semiconductor and metal mesh with large cells at night until the morning and by continuously filling the photoelectrolyzer-generator with water.