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Photodissociation of water over doped iron oxides: materials and mechanisms

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7004460
The main goal of this project has been to study the possibility of economically converting solar energy to chemical energy. It was found that two iron oxide electrodes, one containing MgO and the other SiO/sub 2/, connected to form a short circuited assembly would successfully photodissociate water when illuminated with light. No external energy source was necessary. The power conversion efficiency of this cell proved to be low. Extensive research followed in which the Mg-doped electrode and the short circuited assembly were thoroughly characterized. Although the Mg-doped material is not a true p-type semiconductor, it possesses very unique properties. As a supplement of these studies and as a correlation to water photodissociation, experiments have been performed using ultra high vacuum techniques (thermal desorption spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) to study the reaction of H/sub 2/O with stoichiometric and partially reduced single crystals of ..cap alpha..-Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/ (basal plane). K was added to simulate the presence of alkali metals in the electrolyte solution used in the short circuited assemblies. Reduced iron oxides were produced which are stable to relatively high temperatures (500 K) due to an oxidized outermost layer.
Research Organization:
California Univ., Berkeley (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098
OSTI ID:
7004460
Report Number(s):
LBL-22142; ON: DE87001724
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
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AUGER ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
CHALCOGENIDES
COHERENT SCATTERING
CONVERSION
CRYSTAL GROWTH
DIFFRACTION
DOPED MATERIALS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTRODES
ELECTROLYSIS
ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ENERGY CONVERSION
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON OXIDES
LYSIS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY
MATERIALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOELECTROLYSIS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SCATTERING
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION
SPECTROSCOPY
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
ULTRAHIGH VACUUM
X-RAY DIFFRACTION