Hydrogen Generated on Rooftops
KIT researchers and partners develop a concept for highly efficient photoreactor panels that will be inserted into inexpensive modules
Efficient production of hydrogen, fuels, and even drinking water on roofs or in solar parks – this is what researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and their Canadian partners want to achieve with low-cost photoreactor modules. Now, they have reached major progress.
Artificial photosynthesis means that chemical reactions are carried out with the help of sunlight. As in nature, photons are absorbed by a photocatalytically active material and their energy is used to directly push a chemical reaction. “Meanwhile, various photocatalysts are known. They can be applied to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen or to produce climate-neutral fuels from water and carbon dioxide,” says Paul Kant from KIT’s Institute for Micro Process Engineering (IMVT).
So far, this technology has mainly been used in the lab, because costs of solar hydrogen production have been much too high. Now, the team has reached decisive progress with its concept of highly efficient photoreactor panels that can be inserted into inexpensive modules. Kant thinks that wide use of such novel photoreactor modules for the production of hydrogen or fuels on roofs or in solar farms might be one of the big technological chances of humankind in fighting the climate crisis: “This may make the use of fossil energy carriers superfluous.” Kant directed the research activities while working on his doctorate with Professor Roland Dittmeyer at IMVT. They are embedded in the Helmholtz Program Materials and Technologies for the Energy Transition.
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