AIST Develops New Technology for High-Efficiency Low-Cost Hydrogen Production

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) announced on March 12, 2012, the successful development of a high-performance multilayered photoelectrode for hydrogen production by water electrolysis using oxide semiconductor photoelectrode. The use of this multilayered photoelectrode in carbonate electrolyte almost doubles the efficiency of solar energy conversion to hydrogen, as compared with conventional oxide-semiconductor photoelectrode systems, to 1.35 percent.

The new technology enables low-cost hydrogen production by cutting electrolysis voltage during photocatalytic hydrolytic hydrogen production by more than 40 percent. AIST will continuously search for promising semiconductors and optimal multilayered construction with the aim of further improving the efficiency of solar energy conversion using photoelectrodes.

Posted: 2012/06/23 06:00:15 AM