About the project
High energy photons can drive chemical reactions, destroy DNA and split water into its elements. Utilizing this force allows us to produce green hydrogen from light and water alone, through photocatalysts like TiO2. Green hydrogen is a core concept in EU’s Green Deal where it acts as cornerstone in decarbonizing the energy system. This usually means using renewable energy to run electrolysis of water. Solar photochemical hydrogen on the other hand eliminates the electrolysis step altogether.
However, the amount of UV in sunlight is too small to effectively drive the photocatalysts directly. Decades of research have focused on increasing the photocatalysts absorption of sunlight, unfortunately often at the expense of chemical conversion efficiency. If we instead could effectively convert sunlight to UV, we can use already well-established photocatalysts like TiO2 that have a high chemical efficiency but limited utilization of sunlight.
Objectives
By efficient and broadband upconversion of visible sunlight to UV, SunUP will radically enhance the efficiency of solar-to-hydrogen production by combining the high hydrogen production efficiency of photocatalysts such as TiO2 with a novel sensitized upconversion nanocomposite materials.
Financing
The project is financed by the Research Council of Norway (no. 320714 (NFR.no)). Grant amount: 8 million NOK.
Cooperation
Tools/Techniques/Infrastructure
Project period
2023-2025