Evaluation of Iridium Complex-Based Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation System for Artificial Photosynthesis Studies

User Benefits

- Photoreaction quantum yield, which is essential for evaluating the efficiency of artificial photosynthesis, can be accurately measured. - Hydrogen can be detected by gas chromatograph with thermal conductivity detector (TCD), using argon as carrier gas.

Introduction

In recent years, hydrogen energy has attracted interest as a way to achieve carbon neutrality because it burns without CO₂ emissions. In particular, studies are underway on so-called “green hydrogen” that does not emit CO₂ even during its manufacturing process. A promising method for the production of green hydrogen is to generate hydrogen through artificial photosynthesis using solar energy and a photocatalyst. However, this technique still has the challenges of increasing solar energy conversion efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs. One approach suggested as an effective way to solve those problems is to build an artificial photosynthesis system that utilizes the long wavelength light, which has the highest intensity of sunlight. Photoreaction quantum yield, which refers to how efficiently photons are utilized, is commonly used as an index for the energy conversion efficiency of artificial photosynthesis systems. Calculating the photoreaction quantum yield requires determining the number of photons absorbed and the quantity of hydrogen generated. The former can be measured using Lightway photoreaction evaluation system and the latter using Nexis GC-2030 gas chromatograph. This article describes the use of the Lightway and Nexis GC-2030 systems to evaluate a visible light-responsive photocatalytic hydrogen generation system that uses an iridium complex with coumarin ligands as a photosensitizer.

August 8, 2023 GMT