Solar thermochemical production of hydrogen based on cork Ecoceramics

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Project Details

Start date
2016-05-01
End date
2019-04-30
Extended date
2019-10-31
%
Acronym
H2CORK
Reference
PTDC/CTM-ENE/6762/2014
Funding
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Programme
FCT/PTDC/2014
Budget
199.228 €
Our budget
119.400 €

Team

Description

Goal: H2CORK will develop novel CeO2-based Ecoceramics, exploiting the regular, highly porous microstructure of sustainable cork templates, for the innovative renewable production of hydrogen via direct solar thermochemical fuel production (TCFP).

Sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels, such as H2, are urgently needed, and must be produced using renewable energy to be truly sustainable. Concentrated solar energy (a focused beam of sunlight) can be used to produce electricity, split water or create synthetic fuels without CO2 emissions. H2 production via direct solar TCFP should be more efficient than electrolysis using solar electricity, and so is an innovative solution to H2 production. What is required is a suitable material for a TCFP catalyst.

It is known that CeO2-based materials can be used to split water and produce H2 for TCFP, via a redox cycle that requires heating up to 1400 ºC. What is required is further development and optimisation of such materials to improve efficiency and redox reaction rates, and to enhance their microstructure/surface area. Any materials solutions should also be based on renewable/sustainable resources and methods.

This will be achieved by developing innovative CeO2-based catalysts with enhanced regular 3DOM microstructures using naturally occurring cork templates to create Ecoceramics (Environmentally conscious ceramics). These will be a novel form of biomimetic material using a cork template, to make a ceramic with the unique, highly porous cellular microstructure of cork.Cork is a totally sustainable Portuguese resource, the bark being harvested without damaging the tree, which lives on to sequester CO2 for centuries.

Methods: Solar Energy Materials, Solar Energy, Biomimetics, Biomimetic Materials, Concentrated Solar Power, Water Splitting, Hydrogen Production, Sustainable Energy, Materials for Sustainable Energy, cork, ceria, biomimetic ceramics, sustainable materials, thermochemical fuels production, ecoceramics, CeO2, hydrogen production

Coordinator

Rob Pullar

Coordination

Universidade de Aveiro (UA)

Partners

LNEG

Groups

G5 - Biomimetic, Biological and Living Materials;
G4 - Renewable Materials and Circular Economy;

Outputs

Sponsors

Sponsors
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