Green hydrogen production from solar water splitting has attracted a great deal of interest in recent years because hydrogen is a fuel of high energy density. A research team co-led by scholars from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and Germany discovered the quantum confinement effect in a photocatalyst of a 3D-ordered macroporous structure. The quantum confinement effect was found to enable hydrogen production under visible light. The findings offer an option for addressing energy and environmental challenges.
The research was co-led by Dr Ng Yun Hau, Associate Professor in CityU's School of Energy and Environment (SEE), and researchers from Germany. Their findings were published in the scientific journal ACS Energy Letters, titled "Unveiling Carrier Dynamics in Periodic Porous BiVO4 Photocatalyst for Enhanced Solar Water Splitting."
Dr Ng, an expert in photocatalysis research, pointed out that the typical photocatalyst for solar water splitting can absorb ultraviolet light only from the solar spectrum, which accounts for about 4% of the energy from sunlight. In contrast, bismuth vanadate (BiVO4), a metal oxide photocatalyst responsive to both ultraviolet and visible light, can absorb up to 30% of the energy in the solar spectrum.
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