Search results for "WATER SPLITTING"
showing 10 items of 71 documents
On the modelling of an Acid/Base Flow Battery: An innovative electrical energy storage device based on pH and salinity gradients
2020
Abstract Electrical energy storage can enhance the efficiency in the use of fluctuating renewable sources, e.g. solar and wind energy. The Acid/Base Flow Battery is an innovative and sustainable process to store electrical energy in the form of pH and salinity gradients via electrodialytic reversible techniques. Two electromembrane processes are involved: Bipolar Membrane Electrodialysis during the charge phase and its opposite, Bipolar Membrane Reverse Electrodialysis, during the discharge phase. For the first time, the present work aims at predicting the performance of this energy storage device via the development of a dynamic mathematical model based on a multi-scale approach with distr…
Photocatalytic and photothermocatalytic applications of cerium oxide-based materials
2020
Abstract Cerium dioxide (CeO2) presents unique properties as the special electronic and optical properties of the 4f electrons, the capacity to form nonstoichiometric oxygen-deficient CeO2 − x oxides, the high oxygen mobility, and the reversible transformation between Ce4 + and Ce3 + that make it interesting for photocatalytic applications. CeO2 is a wide bandgap semiconductor (3.0–3.4 eV), but different approaches as combination with oxides, deposition of noble metals, doping with metal and nonmetal species, and the formation of surface defects have been adopted to extend its absorption towards the visible region with the aim to improve its photocatalytic performance. Cerium oxide-based ma…
Nanostructured Ni Based Anode and Cathode for Alkaline Water Electrolyzers
2019
Owing to the progressive abandoning of the fossil fuels and the increase of atmospheric CO2 concentration, the use of renewable energies is strongly encouraged. The hydrogen economy provides a very interesting scenario. In fact, hydrogen is a valuable energy carrier and can act as a storage medium as well to balance the discontinuity of the renewable sources. In order to exploit the potential of hydrogen it must be made available in adequate quantities and at an affordable price. Both goals can be potentially achieved through the electrochemical water splitting, which is an environmentally friendly process as well as the electrons and water are the only reagents. However, these devices stil…
Segregation of copper oxide on calcium copper titanate surface induced by Graphene Oxide for Water splitting applications
2020
Abstract Photoelectrochemical cells (PEC) are promising devices for hydrogen production via sunlight energy. One of the important challenges in this area is to design photoactive electrodes able to absorb visible light. A good photoelectrochemical behavior depends on the presence of surface active sites to photogenerate current at the lower possible potential for water splitting. Recent investigations in this field are focusing on perovskite materials such as CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) as visible light active electrode due its outstanding structure in which CCTO encloses in its structure a visible light absorbance component (CuO). The presence CuO on the material surface is mainly responsible for t…
Electronic properties and high-pressure behavior of wolframite-type CoWO4
2021
In this work we characterize wolframite-type CoWO4 under ambient conditions and under compression up to 10 GPa, with emphasis on its electronic structure. X-Ray diffraction and vibrational experiments, supported by ab initio calculations, show that CoWO4 is stable under high-pressure conditions, as no structural changes are detected in the studied pressure range. Interesting findings come from optical absorption spectroscopy. On the one hand, CoWO4 is confirmed to have one of the lowest band gaps among similar wolframites, around 2.25 eV. This makes CoWO4 suitable for use in applications such as the photocatalysis of organic pollutants and water splitting. Additionally, a monotonic decrease…
Hydrogen from The Sea: The Challenge of the Future. Present and Future Developments
2014
In this paper we proposed the use of saline water to product hydrogen. As far as using saline water, can be proposed two different scheme and technology. The aim of this work is to design an electrolyze system capable of utilizing sea water for direct electrolysis. It is probable that these systems would operate at a low power density and electrolyze only a small portion of the water in contact with electrodes. In particular, we present the results obtained by two different prototype of electrolyzer: one with steel electrodes and the second electrodes with titanium. Further experiments were carried out by changing the electrolytic solution of water and sodium chloride in real seawater. Fina…
Study of the annealing conditions and photoelectrochemical characterization of a new iron oxide bi-layered nanostructure for water splitting
2016
Iron oxide nanostructures have emerged as promising materials for being used as photocatalysts for hydrogen production due to their advantageous properties. However, their low carrier mobility and short hole diffusion length limit their efficiency in water splitting. To overcome these drawbacks, in the present study, we synthetized a new hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) bi-layered nanostructure consisting of a top nanosphere layer and a nanotubular underneath one by electrochemical anodization. Annealing parameters such as temperature, heating rate and atmosphere were studied in detail in order to determine the optimum annealing conditions for the synthetized nanostructure. The obtained new bi-layere…
Ni and Ni-Pd nanostructures electrodes for water-alkaline electrolyses
2017
Hydrogen production by water electrolysis (WE) is a very promising technology because it is a pollution free-process specially if renewable energy are employed. Up to day, the cost of hydrogen production by WE is higher than other available technologies, making WE not competitive. Many efforts have been made to improve WE performance, through the use of electrodes made of transition metal alloys (Pt2Mo, TiPt) as a cathode or pyrochlore type oxide (Tl2RuxIr2-xO7) as an anode [1]. In the field of water-alkaline electrolyzer, the development of cheap nanoporous nickel electrodes with high electrocatalytic features is one of the potential approaches to increase the WE performance [2]., A facile…
Au/TiO2-CeO2 Catalysts for Photocatalytic Water Splitting and VOCs Oxidation Reactions
2016
Photocatalytic water splitting for H2 production and photocatalytic oxidation of 2-propanol, an example of volatile organic compounds, were investigated over TiO2 catalysts loaded with gold and/or ceria. In the water splitting reaction the presence of gold only slightly affected the performance of TiO2 whereas the presence of CeO2 had a more remarkable positive effect. In the 2-propanol oxidation Au/TiO2 was the most active sample in terms of alcohol conversion whereas Au/TiO2-CeO2 exhibited the highest CO2 yield. On the basis of characterization experiments (X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis EDX, surface area measurements, Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) and …
Low temperature conversion of levulinic acid into γ-valerolactone using Zn to generate hydrogen from water and nickel catalysts supported on sepiolite
2020
1 scheme, 2 tables, 7 figures.-- Supplementary material available.