“Hydrogen Farm” project (HFP) is proposed by the team led by Li Can, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in the journal “Angew” with the article titled “A Hydrogen Farm Strategy for Scalable Solar Hydrogen Production with Particulate Photocatalysts”. The “Hydrogen Farm” project uses BiVO4 crystals as photocatalysts for water oxidation to achieve HFP for solar energy storage and hydrogen production. It achieves STC (Solar-to-Chemical) over 1.9% and STH (Solar-to-Hydrogen) over 1.8%. Because this method is similar to the agricultural farm process of large-scale crop planting and centralized harvesting after maturity, the team named it the “Hydrogen Farm” project. The “Hydrogen Farm” project needs to address two key issues: how to achieve efficient photocatalytic water oxidation and how to suppress the reactions between oxidized and reduced species generated on the surface of nano photocatalysts.
“Hydrogen Farm” project began, and Beijing Perfectlight Technology Co., Ltd. was commissioned by the team of Academician Li Can to conduct the customized research and development of the reaction system for the project. The project has been accepted and put into full operation.
The direct solar array flat-plate photochemical reaction system is assembled in an arrayed manner, with a reaction surface area of up to several hundred square meters. It can monitor parameters such as irradiance, ultraviolet radiation, total irradiance, solution pH, ORP (Oxidation-Reduction Potential), etc. in the reaction system. It monitors the input and output of the reaction system, intermediate temperatures, and environmental temperatures. To achieve effective light angles, the bracket can be adjusted within the range of 20–70° and also has essential outdoor performance such as IP5 waterproof level, weather resistance, and thermal shock resistance.
First Author: Zhao Yue
Corresponding Authors: Li Can, Li Rengui
Corresponding Unit: Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
DOI:10.1002/ange.202001438
The team of Kazunari Domen at the University of Tokyo brought the “Hydrogen Farm” to Nature, reporting the safe operation of a 100m2 panel reactor array within a few months. This work uses natural light as the reaction light source and sprays the photocatalyst onto the reaction plate. The STH is 0.76%, enabling large-scale photocatalytic decomposition of water for clean energy industrial production.
First Authors: Hiroshi Nishiyama, Taro Yamada
Corresponding Author: Kazunari Domen
Corresponding Unit: University of Tokyo
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03907-3
To make photocatalytic water splitting meaningful, STH needs to reach 5-10% to achieve economically viable solar photocatalytic hydrogen production. The industry also needs to prepare photocatalysts with better effects in stability, hydrogen production efficiency, and other aspects. Although current photocatalysts can be stably tested for several months under laboratory conditions, a longer service life is still needed to achieve industrial production and realize the “Hydrogen Farm” sooner.
Beijing Perfectlight Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in 2006 and is a pioneer in commercial photocatalytic research instruments in China. It gradually covers research and materials characterization in new energy, environment, fine chemicals, and pharmaceutical chemistry materials related to multiple catalyses (light, electricity, heat), as well as engineering demonstration and application systems. It has a large number of users and successful cases and is a high-tech enterprise integrating R&D, production, sales, and services.
