UJI researchers develop a novel organic device for obtaining hydrogen from water and sunlight



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## UJI researchers develop a novel organic device for obtaining hydrogen from water and sunlight The photoactive device developed can overcome the stability problems keeping the cost and efficiency benefits

12/05/2015 |
SCP

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](https://www.svideo.uji.es/svideo_flash/jpeg/Not_sixtohidrogen_val.jpg)](https://www.svideo.uji.es/svideo_flash/minut/Notsixtohidrogen_sub_1min.mp4)

Hydrogen has great potential as a fuel so that signs of progress in its obtaining are key in the field of alternative energies. Researchers at the [Photovoltaic and Optoelectronic Devices Group](http://www.phocs.eu/) at the Universitat Jaume I have developed an organic device that allows reducing water into hydrogen using only sunlight. Organic materials up to this time used in these devices offer greater versatility and efficiency at a lower cost than inorganic ones, but they present stability problems in contact with an aqueous medium. The study published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry achieves an exceptional stability in these devices and represents an important step in obtaining solar fuels from organic materials.

‪Sixto Giménez, coordinator of the research, notes that through the device developed at the UJI "it has been achieved the production of hydrogen for three hours, demonstrating a stability of organic materials that had not been reached so far".  ‪Organic photovoltaic devices corrode in water and damage very easily.  ‪"Our strategy has been to place a physical barrier between the photovoltaic side and the catalyst that makes the hydrogen generation reaction. In order to achieve it we've deposited compact layers with nanometric titanium oxide material that not only acts as a barrier between the water and the photovoltaic part, but also connects electrically the photovoltaic part and the platinum catalyst.  ‪Using that strategy we can greatly increase stability while maintaining the performance of these devices", says the researcher Antonio Guerrero.

Obtaining solar fuels like hydrogen from water and sunlight is a strategy aimed to solve the global energy problem. "We can have totally renewable resources like sunlight and water for obtaining and energetic conductor such as hydrogen. In addition, hydrogen is a chemical compound with endless applications in industry as the generation of fertilizers or the synthesis of hydrogen compounds", notes Giménez.

‪The research has been developed under the [PHOCS](http://www.phocs.eu/) (Photogenerated Hydrogen by Organic Catalytic Systems) project, funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union, which aims to develop new devices based on organic semiconductor materials to perform the photodecomposition of water leading to the efficient generation of hydrogen.  ‪It seeks to optimize the use of cheaper and sustainable materials for the production of hydrogen.

‪One of the main challenges of the project, which will finish next November after three years of work, is to demonstrate that organic materials (plastics), can be used for photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation, target that has already been reached. Giménez explains, "Hydrogen can be used as fuel due to its high energy potential, an energy that can be converted into electricity and into mechanical energy". The use of these solar fuels “will allow, in a near future, you to go to a service station and instead of fuelling with petrol, a petroleum derivative, you can refuel hydrogen to transform it into electricity through a fuel cell and then into mechanical energy, being water the only waste product", explains the researcher. Thus, the research in which the UJI participates contributes to the transition from the current energy model based on fossil fuels to a sustainable model that respects the environment focused on the use of solar energy. This transition will be possible by the development of new semiconductor materials.

‪Energy models based on hydrogen (hydrogen economy) are a priority in technology development programs of the leading world economies such as the US, EU and Japan. The PHOCS project is coordinated by Dr. Maria Rosa Antognazza, researcher at the Centre for Nano Science and Technology in Milan, and counts with the participation of seven partners from five countries, among which are research centres and public universities as Jaume I, in addition to the Italian oil company ENI.

‪The contribution to the PHOCS project by the research team of the UJI led by Sixto Giménez has been to try to understand which are the physicochemical mechanisms that are responsible for the operation of these devices, for what have been used different techniques developed in the laboratories of the Photovoltaic and Optoelectronic Devices Group.  ‪Moreover, the group of the UJI has developed its proposal of organic device that stands out for the level of stability achieved. "Now the next step will be to continue working on improving the efficiency of this device, especially concerning energy conversion capacity," Giménez said.

‪Video: <http://blogs.uji.es/cienciatv/?p=4282&preview=true>

**‪References:**

**‪**- M. Haro, C. Solis, G. Molina, L. Otero, J. Bisquert, S. Gimenez and A. Guerrero. "Toward Stable Solar Hydrogen Generation Using Organic Photoelectrochemical Cells", *The Journal of Physical Chemistry*, 2015, 119 (12), pp. 6488-6494

 ‪- A. Guerrero, M. Haro, S. Bellani, M. Antognazza, L. Meda c, S. Gimenez and J. Bisquert. "Organic Photoelectrochemical Cells with Quantitative Photocarrier Conversion", *Energy Environ. Sci.*, 2014, 7, 3666-3673

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