Booth Id:
EGSD024
Category:
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Year:
2021
Finalist Names:
Jayanty, Chinmay (School: Sargent High School)
Abstract:
Solar energy is clean and free, and in abundance. Fossil fuel consumption is
growing globally at an unstainable rate, and there is a need for renewable,
nonpolluting sources of energy. Newer technologies are being developed to use
the Sun's light energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen and is considered
the most inexpensive way to generate hydrogen.
Hydrogen produced from water using Sunlight and specialized
semiconductors (nanomaterials) is called photocatalytic water splitting. Bismuth
vanadate (BiVO 4 ), Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), Tungsten trioxide (WO 3 ), and Hematite
(Fe 2 O 3 ) are metal oxides extensively used in photocatalytic water splitting. I tested
the combination of metal oxide nanostructured materials (Bismuth nitrate,
Vanadium oxide, Cobalt (III) acetate, and Cobalt (II) nitrate hexahydrate) coated
on a fluorine-doped tin oxide glass to split water, focusing on achieving efficiency.
I also tested durability to determine which of the combinations works better in
the long run. I observed Bismuth vanadate produced more hydrogen during
initial testing than other bismuth vanadate + cobalt acetate and bismuth vanadate
+ cobalt nitrate + cobalt acetate semiconductors. When tested for durability, the
latter two combinations were efficient than bismuth vanadate alone.
Solar water splitting has been considered the most effective and cleanest
way to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen produced can then be used by fuel cells
to generate electricity, where water constitutes the only emission.