A team of Belgian engineers say solar panels could do more than keep the lights on: They could also produce hydrogen gas , giving families the ability to heat their homes without expanding their carbon footprints.
Scientists from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) have developed a solar panel capable of converting sunlight directly into hydrogen using moisture in the air. The prototype takes the water vapor and breaks it down into both hydrogen and oxygen molecules.
According to experts, this technology could be of great help in tackling a major challenge facing the hydrogen economy every day, which, unlike fossil fuels, does not produce greenhouse gas emissions or air pollution when used in fuel cell-powered vehicles or buildings.
Almost all the hydrogen that is produced today is produced through an industrial process that involves the use of natural gas , which does cause the expulsion of more emissions into the atmosphere.
While a small number of facilities are producing “green” hydrogen through a process that splits water molecules using electricity (electrolysis), ideally from renewable sources, other researchers – including Belgian scholars – include developing what are known as direct solar water-splitting technologies , which use biological and chemical components to split the water directly in the solar panel, thereby renouncing the need to install large and expensive electrolysis plants.
The solar panel developed by the Belgian team is 1.65 meters long, would be about the height of a kitchen refrigerator, and has a power rating of about 210 watts. And it could produce 250 liters of hydrogen per day on average, for a full year.
But, as experts say, although a system has already been developed that is very efficient to take water from the air and divide it into hydrogen through the use of solar energy, the most difficult part is precisely extracting the water from the air. One of the main advantages of the panel devised by the Belgian team is that it is made up of cheap raw materials, rather than precious metals and other expensive components.
The researchers plan to field test their prototype by installing it in a house in the rural town of Oud-Heverlee. The hydrogen would be stored in a small underground pressure vessel during the summer months, then pumped around the house during the winter. And, if all goes according to plan, 20 panels could be installed in the house, or even a larger system built to allow other families to use hydrogen.
