Hydrogen generation by Photo-electrochemical water splitting using TiO2 photocatalyst and development of efficient solar receiver for solar concentrator.
The search for clean renewable energy is important to try solving problems related to emission of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels which contribute to dangerous climatic changes. Hydrogen, with its high gravimetric energy density, is a promising route to store renewable energy. Moreover, there is almost zero emission of environment pollutants when hydrogen is used as a fuel in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Presently, about 95 % of the total hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels by procedures that lead to increase in greenhouse gases. Thus, to make the life cycle of hydrogen fuel to be clean and renewable it is very important to produce hydrogen gas from clean and renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. Photocatalytic water splitting by using solar energy could contribute to the solution of environmental and energy issues related to the hydrogen production .In present work, multilayer-based TiO2 to be used as photo-electrode in hydrogen production by photo-electrochemical water-splitting. The photocatalytic efficiency of the multilayer-based TiO2 photo-electrode was tested by measuring hydrogen production through water spitting in photo-electrochemical cell. Solar-concentrator concentrates all solar radiation falling on it towards a solar receiver. This solar receiver collects all the concentrated solar radiation and then transfer heat to the surrounding water. In present work, we developed receiver of copper oxide with long time thermal stability and high corrosion resistance having a capability of absorbing most part of solar radiation