Japanese scientists have learned how to obtain hydrogen peroxide liquid H2O2 from seawater under the influence of sunlight. The efficiency of the reaction was found to be high enough to be used in fuel cells to generate electricity.
To this end, a research team led by Shunichi Fukuzumi (Osaka University) has developed a photoelectrochemical cell, which is a solar cell that produces peroxide. The photocatalyst absorbs photons from incident sunlight and then uses their energy to initiate the oxidation of seawater to peroxide. The amount of product at the outlet in the experiment of Japanese scientists exceeded the result of previous experiments (with pure water) by 24 times. The reason is in the use of seawater, where negatively charged chlorine ions stimulate the reaction.
Until now, photocatalytic methods for the production of liquid H2O2 have been insufficiently effective, and methods of synthesis without the participation of light require energy consumption, which
makes them unprofitable for the production of a substance from which energy is supposed to be obtained. Most modern fuel cells use hydrogen gas, which is stored in a liquefied form. Liquid peroxide is much more convenient and safer to store.
The Japanese device cannot yet match existing fuel cells in efficiency, but the researchers are going to improve the results using new materials.
A detailed research report is published in the journal Nature Communications.
