Solar photolysis of water

Abstract

Hydrogen is produced by the solar photolysis of water in a first photo-oxidation vessel with a transparent wall in the presence of a water soluble photo-oxidizable reagent and an insoluble hydrogen recombination catalyst. Simultaneously oxygen is produced in a second photo-reduction reactor with a transparent wall in the presence of an insoluble photo-reduction reagent catalyst. When spent, the solution from the first reactor is fed into the second reactor. A reaction occurs in the dark in which the redox reagents are regenerated, and the regenerated photo-oxidation reagent solution is recycled to the first reactor. The photo-oxidation reagent is preferably a europium salt, and the first reactor also contains a hydrogen recombination catalyst such as platinum supported on glass beads. The photo-reduction catalyst is a bifunctional reagent catalyst including a transition metal salt such as a manganese oxychloride salt covalently bonded to the surface of a high area support such as glass fibers, together with a hydroxyl or chlorohydroxyl decomposition catalyst of high area.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.