US 6,471,834 B2 · Photo-assisted electrolysis apparatus

Abstract

An apparatus and method for performing electrolysis on materials such as water, thereby electrically separating the electrolyte into its elemental components. More specifically, according to a preferred aspect of the instant invention, there is provided an apparatus for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen that uses a specially prepared cathode in conjunction with incident light energy to increase the efficiency of that process. A preferred embodiment of this apparatus uses the photo collector/cathode which comprises a thin layer of metal, preferably nickel, deposited by electroplating or a similar technique onto a conductive surface (e.g., a sheet of copper metal). During the electrolysis process, the cathode is irradiated with light, thereby reducing the amount of electrical energy necessary to separate a given quantity of electrolytic material.

Claims16

Dependent claims

An apparatus for photoelectrolysis comprising:

a container;
a cathode positioned in said container;
and
an anode positioned in said container,
said container being operable to allow transmission of light to said cathode from a light source external to said container,
said cathode comprising a sheet of conductive metal blacked with a layer of conductive metal disposed on one side of said sheet of conductive metal in a manner such that said layer of conductive metal is operable for both absorbing said light and for acting as a cathodic surface for electrolysis, and
said anode being an array of rods positioned adjacent said layer of conductive metal.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Photo-assisted electrolysis apparatus

Life of this patent

Photo-assisted electrolysis apparatus

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16