Direct Solar Water Splitting Cell using Water, WO3, Pt, and Polymer Electrolyte Membrane

Authors

Xiaoming He, Photon SynergyFollow
Robert F. Boehm, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2009

Publication Title

Energy

Volume

34

Issue

10

First page number:

1454

Last page number:

1457

Abstract

A solar water splitting cell composed of WO₃, Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) and Pt was constructed for producing hydrogen from deionized water in sunlight. Spectral responsivity measurements under various temperatures and bias voltages were conducted for the cell using the Incident Photon to Current Efficiency (IPCE) method. For comparison, a known WO₃ Photo Electro Chemical (PEC) cell containing H₃PO₄ electrolyte, WO₃/H₃PO₄/Pt, was tested using the same test method. The WO₃/PEM–H₂O/Pt cell showed better Quantum Efficiency (QE) performance compared to that obtained from the cell with the chemical electrolyte. For the first time, spectral responsivity of photo water splitting process without bias power was unveiled in the new WO₃ cell, demonstrating the self-sustained photo electrolysis capability. Bias voltage effect on Solar to Hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency was dramatic in the range from 0.2 V to 1.2 V and suppressions of STH were observed when high bias voltages were applied. In addition, a strong temperature effect on the energy conversion efficiency at high bias voltage was observed in the cell containing PEM–H₂O, revealing that the STH at 54 °C is nearly five times that at 14 °C.

Keywords

Hydrogen as fuel; IPCE; PEC; PEM; Photo electrolysis; Photo water splitting; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells; Solar; Solar energy; STH; Tungsten trioxide; Water – Electrolysis; WO3

Disciplines

Energy Systems | Engineering | Heat Transfer, Combustion | Mechanical Engineering | Oil, Gas, and Energy | Sustainability

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

He, X., Boehm, R. F. (2009). Direct Solar Water Splitting Cell using Water, WO3, Pt, and Polymer Electrolyte Membrane. Energy, 34(10), 1454-1457.