A Solar-Powered Hydrolyzer

Project Information

HYDRER

Grant agreement ID: 664719

DOI

10.3030/664719

Project closed

EC signature date 29 April 2015

Start date 1 May 2015

End date 31 October 2016

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 150 000,00

EU contribution

€ 150 000,00

Coordinated by

FUNDACIO INSTITUT CATALA D'INVESTIGACIO QUIMICA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HYDRER (A Solar-Powered Hydrolyzer)

Reporting period: 2015-05-01 to 2016-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

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.