Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HYDRER (A Solar-Powered Hydrolyzer)
Reporting period: 2015-05-01 to 2016-10-31
HYDRER has developed and validated a novel hydrolyzer technology to obtain hydrogen from sea water and sunlight. The device has been built with a photovoltaic cell (2.5 V) powering an electrolyzer built exclusively from earth-abundant and inexpensive materials (carbon, glass, polymers and Prussian blue analogs). Our set-up is able to sustain a 1 L/h hydrogen production at least for one month. As a proof of concept, our results open interesting possibilities for a novel cost-efficient technology in hydrogen production from renewable energy sources and feedstock. Furthermore, working in untreated sea water, our hydrolyzer produces chlorine and caustic soda as subproducts, opening alternative applications for additional industrial applications.