Dissociation of water into hydrogen and oxygen through a combination of electrolysis and photocatalyst

Abstract

Hydrogen from water is an alternative energy source that can replace fossil fuels and is environmentally friendly. Various methods have been developed in producing hydrogen from water, including the process of photocatalysis and electrolysis. Photocatalysis is a water splitting event to produce hydrogen from water that utilizes photon energy. Most photocatalyst materials are made of semiconductor material because they have an energy gap that allows them to produce electron-holes if they are subjected to photon energy from a particular source that causes a water splitting event. Water electrolysis is the decomposition of water compounds (H2O) into oxygen gas (O2) and hydrogen gas (H2) by using an electric current through the water. Some of the obstacles of the two methods above are 1) photocatalysis: most of the photocatalyst materials that have been developed to date only work efficiently in the ultra violet light range and the amount of hydrogen production has not been maximized, 2) electrolysis: to produce hydrogen on a large scale, requires electricity in large quantities as a trigger for a reaction, so it requires high production costs. In this paper, through a literature review, a method of separating hydrogen and oxygen from water through a photocatalysis process that utilizes the energy of photons from visible light is combined with the electrolysis process to increase hydrogen production with a fairly small current.