Two-Step Water Splitting Process With Solid Solution of YSZ and Ni-Ferrite for Solar Hydrogen Production (ISEC 2005-76151)

Abstract

Ni-ferrite (NiFe2O4) is a promising reactive ceramics of the ferrite for the solar hydrogen production by a two-step water splitting process using concentrated solar energy. However, it should be pretreated before H2-generation reaction by grinding the Ni-ferrite sintered after the O2-releasing reaction to make a fine powder. If the Ni-ferrite and yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) form a solid solution between these oxides (YSZ∕NiFe2O4 solid solution=YSZ(Ni,Fe)), it is expected that the two-step water splitting process with the Ni-ferrite system can proceed without treatment of the reduced product because of the high thermal stability of the YSZ∕NiFe2O4 solid solution. The YSZ∕NiFe2O4 solid solution was prepared by calcination of the mixture of the YSZ balls and NiFe2O4 powder at T=1823K for 1h, and its reactivity and thermal stability were examined for the two-step water splitting process. During the ten times repetition of the two-step water splitting reaction (T=1773K for O2-releasing, and 1473K for H2-generation) with the YSZ∕NiFe2O4 solid solution using infrared imaging furnace, the reactivity for O2-releasing and H2-generation was kept constant. The molar ratio of the released O2 gas volume (the average O2 gas, 1.9cm3∕g) and the generated H2 gas volume (the average H2 gas, 3.8cm3∕g) was nearly 1:2, indicating that the water decomposition process via two steps proceeds. The X-ray diffractometry (XRD) measurement showed that the YSZ(Ni,Fe) keeps the YSZ phase structure during the ten times repetition of the two-step water splitting process. The successive H2 gas production by the two-step water splitting process was performed (ten times repetition of the two-step water splitting process). From comparative study on the reactivity and the thermal stability for the two-step water splitting reaction among the YSZ∕NiFe2O4 solid solution, NiFe2O4 and ZnFe2O4, it is concluded that the YSZ∕NiFe2O4 solid solution is superior to the others.