Sixteen Percent Solar-to-Hydrogen Efficiency Using a Power-Matched Alkaline Electrolyzer and a High Concentrated Solar Cell: Effect of Operating Parameters.

Abstract

The effect of electrode area, electrolyte concentration, temperature, and light intensity (up to 218 sun) on PV electrolysis of water is studied using a high concentrated triple-junction (3-J) photovoltaic cell (PV) connected directly to an alkaline membrane electrolyzer (EC). For a given current, the voltage requirement to run an electrolyzer increases with a decrease in electrode sizes (4.5, 2.0, 0.5, and 0.25 cm2) due to high current densities. The high current density operation leads to high Ohmic losses, most probably due to the concentration gradient and bubble formation. The EC operating parameters including the electrolyte concentration and temperature reduce the voltage requirement by improving the thermodynamics, kinetics, and transport properties of the overall electrolysis process. For a direct PV–EC coupling, the maximum power point of PV (Pmax) is matched using EC I–V (current–voltage) curves measured for different electrode sizes. A shift in the EC I–V curves toward open-circuit voltage (Voc) reduces the Pop (operating power) to hydrogen efficiencies due to the increased voltage losses above the equilibrium water-splitting potential. The solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiencies remained comparable (∼16%) for all electrode sizes when the operating current (Iop) was similar to the short-circuit current (Isc) irrespective of the operating voltage (Vop), electrolyzer temperature, and electrolyte concentration.