Photoelectrochemical generation of hydrogen
OwnerShalini Menezesinventor
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Abstract
Lightweight photoelectrochemical system for real-time hydrogen production from water and sunlight, using lightweight multi-junction photo electrodes made from the highly reliable and efficient copper indium selenide thin films, preferably made by low-cost electrodeposition on flexible foil.
Claims20
A device for photoelectrolysis of water, comprising at least one electrolyte with no added redox couple and a composite photoelectrode, having a top cell in electrical contact to a bottom cell wherein said bottom cell is a solid-state junction between n-type copper indium selenide (n-CIS) and a p-type junction partner, and said n-CIS is selected from the (Cu2Se)(In2Se3)n+1 group of semiconducting compounds, where n is an integer >0.
A device for photoelectrolysis of water, comprising a series of interconnected chambers wherein a copper halide and hydrogen halide electrolyte is photo-oxidized at an n-CIS photoanode in one said chamber;
- and resulting products from said electrolyte are transported and thermo-chemically processed through next said interconnected chambers to regeneratively produce O2 gas, and H2 gas is produced at a cathode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.