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New Solar Cell Generates Electricity and Hydrogen

Materials Science and Engineering Professor Avner Rothschild and his research team at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology have created a type of solar cell that generates both electricity and hydrogen. Using the power of the sun and ultra-thin films of iron oxide (commonly known as rust), the researchers have found a novel way to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The breakthrough could lead to less expensive, more efficient ways to store solar energy in the form of hydrogen-based fuels. "We have found a way to trap light in ultra-thin films of iron oxide that are 5,000 times thinner than typical office paper. This is the enabling key to achieving high efficiency and low cost," says Rothschild.

Topics:
Alternative Fuels Electronics & Computers Energy Energy Storage Green Design & Manufacturing Power Renewable Energy Semiconductors & ICs Solar Power

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    Transcript

    00:00:17 the solar cells we have today they generate electricity while the sun is shining you will not have energy at nighttime or when there are clouds so you need to find a way to store some of the solar energy for use on demand the technology we develop does exactly that by structuring ultra-thin iron oxide layers in the order of 20 or 30 nano meters on top of a mirror-like substrate

    00:00:44 we can generate conditions where the light is getting trapped in these layers we absorb nearly all the light and at the same time this very thin layers are very efficient for the extraction of the photocurrent out so it's a type of solar cell but unlike the solar cells we have today that generate only electricity our cells will generate electricity and hydrogen and the hydrogen is a simple

    00:01:07 kind of fuel that you can use either directly using something called fuel cells or you can convert it to liquid fuels such as ethanol or methanol and then you can generate fuel to fuel your car if you have a hydrogen car or you can convert it to liquid fuels by reacting the hydrogen with carbon dioxide or biomass extracts you can also take this slight wrapping invention and

    00:01:34 use it in other type of solar cells or photovoltaic cells so-called second generation photovoltaic cells simply by applying our invention in this type of cell that are already there at the market you can make them much cheaper I joined this research because I wanted to give my little contribution to solving the energy crisis in the world I talked with Professor Roger and

    00:02:01 together we decided to build up a small group that will work on this project and to be able to take this idea from the blackboard all the way to work in device this research was recently published in Nature material one of the top journals and in science I'm very proud that my students invented the ID and developed it and we reached results that are better than ever reported before for

    00:02:27 this kind of device and for this kind of material and I'd also like to acknowledge the funding agencies that support this research