To combat climate change, we must ascertain if there are renewable and environment friendly alternatives to the non-renewable fuel sources currently used. Both nuclear and solar power show promise as potential replacements, and have shown to be most effective. Nuclear power, however, is still not widely used so researching into utilizing and maximizing the efficiency of solar technology is a promising investment.
For my Senior Research Project, I aim to build and maximize the efficiency of a solar powered water splitting device. The device would break water into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen gases, via electrodes using energy collected by a solar panel. The hydrogen gas could then be combusted and used as a source for fuel. Although a small device, I aim to develop technology that could be used as a model for more complex devices as well as serve as a point of discussion for other renewable innovations.
Hi Afra! This project seems to be very geographically relevant as Arizona is heating up at a quick rate due to global warming. Very excited to see what you do with your Senior Research Project.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading Rohini! You're right, climate change is an important state issue. One of the benefits of Arizona's weather however is that it's a great place to develop solar technology because the state receives adequate sunlight year round. Hope the device will be a success!
DeleteSolar energy is traditionally harnessed through photovoltaic cells. Does your approach provide any benefits over this?
ReplyDeleteHey Sid! I'm not sure if this answers your question, but in my approach I would be harnessing solar energy through the use of photovoltaic cells in solar panels. We would then use that electricity to break the water into its constituents creating combustible hydrogen gas as a source of fuel.
DeleteI just started reading about photocatalytic water spliting. It sounds like that's the area you're working on. The reading is interesting. Tell me if I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs. Gathas! You are correct, this is the area I'm working on. We're using the concepts of photocatalytic water splitting to first create a working device of our own. After this, I will ascertain whether there is any way to make the device more efficient.
DeleteHi Afra!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering that, although water-splitting is a renewable, alternative energy source, are there any undesirable by-products of it, such as the release of harmful gasses? I understand that you are only splitting water, so only Hydrogen and Oxygen will be released, but will the actual process of splitting have byproducts?
Also, how much more efficient is this process over traditional solar power? How will the increasing efficiency of Photovoltaic cells (currently they are less that 14% efficient at harnessing the sun's energy) affect water splitting?
Thanks, and good luck on you project!
Hi Farhan! That is a good concern to have. There could be harmful by products depending on the salt used (eg using NaCl may cause the formation of Cl2 gas) but we take that into account when designing the device. The actual splitting of water has no harmful by products - it's the same reaction as the formation of water but in reverse so that you have to add energy in order for it to occur and that's why its considered a clean fuel!
DeleteI am not completely sure how much more efficient this process is over traditional solar power - I will definitely look into that - however, hydrogen production using natural gas, a fossil fuel, is the leading source of power (around 27% of power) after coal (around 39% of power), so finding a cleaner efficient way to generate hydrogen is crucial and water splitting is a promising method to do so. Increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic cells would greatly increase the hydrogen output per energy input. There would be more solar energy harnessed to increase the voltage available to go into the device, creating a more efficient device.
Thank you for reading!