A bright future for hydrogen

The technology developed is capable of producing renewable energy that transforms light into carbon neutral hydrogen.

The research team only used inexpensive materials such as water and metal oxides to create an economically viable method for producing solar hydrogen.

Our less expensive concept based on iron oxide, we hope to be able to attain efficiencies of 10% in a few years

The device used by the EPFL team is based upon the photoelectrochemical (PEC) tandem solar cell, which produced hydrogen directly from water.

Kevin Sivula, lead EPFL researcher, wanted to produce similar results but at a lower cost.

“The most expensive material in our device is the glass plate,” explained Sivula. “With our less expensive concept based on iron oxide, we hope to be able to attain efficiencies of 10% in a few years, for less than $80 per square meter. At that price, we’ll be competitive with traditional methods of hydrogen production.”

Sivula admitted, however, that his team’s semiconductor, which is made of iron oxide, caused problems as it is one of the worst on the market.

To counter the problem, the team designed a silicon enhanced, nanostructured piece of iron oxide, covered with a thin layer of aluminium oxide and cobalt oxide.

The second element of the technology is the dye-sensitised solar cell which is composed of titanium oxide.

This second layer lets the electrons transferred by the iron oxide gain enough energy to extract hydrogen from water.

Sivula believes that the system developed at EPFL could considerably increase the potential of solar energy to serve as a viable renewable energy source for the future.