Use of the Photoelectrolysis of Ordinary Water Powered by the Light Energy for the Non-Stop Operation of the Electric Car Engine

Abstract

Today, the non-stop operation of an electric vehicle engine requires continuous charging of the engine's fuel cell with pure hydrogen and oxygen. Pure hydrogen is obtained by various industrial methods, including: steam reforming of methane and natural gas; coal gasification; biotechnology; electrolysis of water, etc. The most effective method for obtaining pure hydrogen and oxygen is the use of photoelectrolysis of an aqueous electrolyte solution in a photoelectrochemical cell. In this method, hydrogen and oxygen are produced in a photoelectrochemical cell from light energy. However, the photoelectrochemical cells used today lose most of the light energy due to the high resistance of the conductive medium between the electrodes, are expensive, have material limitations that significantly reduce their efficiency. The article presents the use of photoelectrolysis of ordinary water, powered by light energy for the non-stop operation of an electric vehicle engine by continuously charging the fuel cell of the engine with hydrogen and oxygen, continuously produced in a specially designed photoelectrolyzer, powered by light energy, at a price below the market and participating in a continuously operating closed cycle: ordinary water tank + photoelectrolyzer: formation of gas bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen in the process of photoelectrolysis of ordinary water + fuel cell charging and electric car engine operation + steam water + ordinary water tank. The developed photoelectrolyzer, in contrast to existing photoelectrochemical cells, has a specially designed electrolysis base, located in the lower part of the photoelectrolyzer, includes a fire hose material membrane, located between a silicon semiconductor with an attached mesh; a burnt graphite cathode and a mechanism for adjusting the gap between the electrodes.