Solar light-powered generation of hydrogen gas from water with supermolecular complexes as photocatalysts

该项目开发了扩大新的光合光驱动过程所需的工程设备，该过程利用太阳能将水分解为氢气和氧气。该工艺非常高效，并且比任何其他现有技术都有可能降低氢气生产的成本。它在基底材料中使用特别设计的分子复合物，利用入射光子将电子转移到中心反应位点，然后催化或促进水分解过程。这个过程以前已经在小试管规模上得到了证明。该项目旨在通过工程实验室规模的设备将该工艺扩大到更大的制氢能力。此外，它将分析系统运行，并进行热力学优化研究，以提高其性能。

This project develops the engineering equipment needed to scale up a new photosynthetic light-driven process that uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The process is highly efficient and promises lower cost production of hydrogen than any other existing technology. It uses specially designed molecular complexes in a substrate material that utilizes incoming photons to transfer electrons to a central reaction site, which then catalyzes or facilitates a water-splitting process. The process has been previously demonstrated at a small test-tube scale. This project aims to scale up the process to larger capacities of hydrogen production with engineering lab-scale equipment. In addition, it will analyze the system operation and perform thermodynamic optimization studies to improve its performance.