On the Green Path of Innovation — Hydrogen from Laser-Assisted Alkaline Electrolysis

Abstract

The dominant problem that needs to be solved today is the issue of energy sources and how to use them, which must be ecological and sustainable - in a word, green. As the best candidate for a global solution to this problem, hydrogen produced electrolytically stood out as a green fuel with no carbon footprint. However, for a hydrogen-based economy to have a realistic and sustainable perspective in the future, it largely depends on its efficient and economically viable production that would meet the market's needs. Special attention in this paper is devoted to the influence of laser radiation on the possibility of improving the process of alkaline electrolysis for obtaining hydrogen, as well as on increasing the amount of separated hydrogen when the electrolytic cell is directly irradiated with a laser beam during the electrolysis process itself. After the experiments, it was determined that the application of direct irradiation of the electrolyte with a green laser at 532 nm wavelength significantly increases the amount of hydrogen produced and reduces the voltage of the electrolytic process, which is directly related to the increase in the energy efficiency of the overall hydrogen production process.

Dominantan problem koji danas treba rešiti je pitanje energenata i načina njihove upotrebe koji moraju biti ekološki i održivi – jednom rečju zeleni. Kao najbolji kandidat za globalno rešenje ovog problema istakao se vodonik proizveden elektolitičkim putem, kao zeleno gorivo bez ugljeničnih otisaka. Da bi ekonomija zasnovana na vodoniku imala realnu i održivu perspektivu u budućnosti, u velikoj meri zavisi od njegove efikasne i ekonomski podobne proizvodnje koja bi zadovoljila potrebe tržišta. Posebna pažnja u ovom radu posvećena je uticaju laserskog zračenja na mogućnost poboljšanja procesa alkalne elektrolize za dobijanje vodonika, kao i na povećanje količine izdvojenog vodonika pri direktnom ozračivanju elektrolitičke ćelije laserskim snopom tokom samog procesa elektrolize. Nakon izvršenih eksperimenata utvrđeno je da se primenom direktnog ozračivanja elektrolita zelenim laserom talasne dužine 532 nm u značajnoj meri povećava količina proizvedenog vodonika i smanjuje napon elektrolitičkog procesa, što je u direktnoj vezi sa povećanjem energetske efikasnosti ukupnog procesa dobijanja vodonika.