Kayla Weston Wins 1st Place in AIChE Poster Competition
Kayla Weston听took 1st place in the听Materials Engineering and Sciences Division Undergraduate Student Poster Competition at the AIChE 2013 Annual Meeting听in San Francisco for her poster titled 鈥滱 Method for Clean H2 Generation from Solar Heat and Water.鈥
Weston is a member of the Weimer group.
Abstract:
Solar thermal water splitting is a method to transform diffuse, temporal, solar energy into a useful chemical fuel, namely H2听that can be stored, transported and efficiently used.听听Solar thermal water splitting occurs when a metal oxide, 鈥渉ercynite鈥 material in this study, is heated using solar thermal energy to above 1200听oC where by it reduces generating oxygen. Traditionally, the material is then cooled ~ 300-500听oC below the thermal reduction temperature and exposed to steam whereby the steam re-oxidizes the metal oxide and produces H2听gas. The metal oxide is subsequently cycled between the oxidation and reduction steps resulting in an overall reaction of H2O + solar thermal energy 鈫捥鼿2听+ 陆O2. The 鈥渉ercynite鈥 material used experimentally was synthesized using atomic layer deposition (ALD). ALD is a thin film coating technique that allows for a layer-by-layer deposition of metal oxides at the desired ratios and thickness. Thin films with high porosity are desired as they allow for decreased diffusional and thermal resistances. We demonstrate water splitting cycles using 鈥渉ercynite鈥 active material where the oxidation and reduction steps are carried out under isothermal conditions and that this is beneficial from an efficiency, total hydrogen generation, and material thermal stress standpoint. Additionally, in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories, a follow up investigation of isothermal solar thermochemical cycling was carried out in order to better understand the cycle capacity and hydrogen productivity of hercynite materials over a range of operating temperatures and reactive gas partial pressures.