Hydrogen production device and method for producing hydrogen

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9708718-B2
Application number	US-201013577505-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2010
Priority date	Feb 8, 2010
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

There is provided a hydrogen production device which is high in the light use efficiency and can produce hydrogen with high efficiency without decreasing the hydrogen generation rate.
The hydrogen production device according to the present invention comprises: a photoelectric conversion part having a light acceptance surface and a back surface; a first gas generation part and a second gas generation part provided on the back surface, wherein one of the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part is a hydrogen generation part to generate H 2 from an electrolytic solution, and the other thereof is an oxygen generation part to generate O 2 from the electrolytic solution, and at least one of the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part is plural, and the photoelectric conversion part is electrically connected to the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part so that an electromotive force generated by a light acceptance of the photoelectric conversion part is supplied to the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hydrogen production device comprising:
a photoelectric conversion part having a light acceptance surface and a back surface;
a first electrode provided on the acceptance surface of the photoelectric conversion part;
a second electrode provided on the back surface of the photoelectric conversion part;
a first insulating part provided on the second electrode and the side surface of the photoelectric conversion part,
a first gas generation part provided on the second electrode,
a second gas generation part provided on the first insulating part, and
a first conductive part connecting the first electrode to the second gas generation part, wherein
one of the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part is a hydrogen generation part to generate H2 from an electrolytic solution, and the other thereof is an oxygen generation part to generate O2 from the electrolytic solution,
at least one of the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part is plural, and
the photoelectric conversion part is electrically connected to the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part so that an electromotive force generated by a light acceptance of the photoelectric conversion part is supplied to the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part,
the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part are provided alternately and in parallel,
the first gas generation part is electrically connected to the back surface of the photoelectric conversion part via the second electrode, and
the second gas generation part is electrically connected to the light acceptance surface of the photoelectric conversion part via the first electrode and the first conductive part.

2. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a partition wall between the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part.

3. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the partition wall is provided to separate the space between the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part.

4. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part are substantially rectangle, and the long side of the first gas generation part is provided to adjoin that of the second gas generation part across the partition wall.

5. The device according to claim 4 , further comprising: a first gas exhaust opening provided outside of one of short sides of the first gas generation part; and a second gas exhaust opening provided outside of one of short sides of the second gas generation part, wherein
the first gas exhaust opening and the second gas exhaust opening are provided next to each other.

6. The device according to claim 5 , wherein both of the first gas exhaust opening and the second first gas exhaust opening are plural, the plurality of the first gas exhaust opening conducts with one first gas exhaust path, and the plurality of the second gas exhaust opening conducts with one second gas exhaust path.

7. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the partition wall contains an ion-exchange material.

8. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the second gas generation part is provided on the back surface of the photoelectric conversion part via a second insulation part.

9. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the second electrode and the insulation part have a corrosion resistance and liquid-blocking properties to the electrolytic solution.

10. The device according to claim 1 , wherein a second conductive part is provided in a contact hole penetrating the photoelectric conversion part.

11. The device according to claim 10 , wherein the second conductive part has a cross-section which is parallel with the light acceptance surface of the photoelectric conversion part, and the cross-section has an elongate shape which is parallel with a column-wise of the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part.

12. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the photoelectric conversion part is provided on a substrate having translucency.

13. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the photoelectric conversion part has a photoelectric conversion layer formed of a p-type semiconductor layer, an i-type semiconductor layer, and an n-type semiconductor layer.

14. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the photoelectric conversion part comprises a plurality of the photoelectric conversion layers connected in series, and the plurality of the photoelectric conversion layers output the electromotive force generated by receiving light to the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part.

15. The device according to claim 14 , wherein each photoelectric conversion layer is connected in series with a third conductive part.

16. The device according to claim 15 , wherein the third conductive part comprises a translucent electrode provided on the side of the light acceptance surface of the photoelectric conversion layer, and a backside electrode provided on the side of the back surface of the photoelectric conversion layer.

17. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising an insulation part provided between the back surface of the photoelectric conversion part and the second gas generation part, and a fourth conductive part provided between the insulation part and the second gas generation part.

18. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising an insulation part provided between the back surface of the photoelectric conversion part and the first gas generation part, and a fifth conductive part provided between the insulation part and the first gas generation part.

19. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the hydrogen generation part and the oxygen generation part include a catalyst for a reaction to generate H2 from the electrolytic solution, and a catalyst for a reaction to generate O2 from the electrolytic solution, respectively.

20. The device according to claim 19 , wherein at least one of the hydrogen generation part and the oxygen generation part is a catalyst-supporting porous conductor.

21. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the photoelectric conversion part is provided on the substrate having translucency, and
further comprising: a plate provided over the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part so as to be opposed to the substrate; and a space provided between the first and the second gas generation parts and the plate.

22. The device according to claim 21 , further comprising a partition wall between the first gas generation part and the second gas generation part, wherein the partition wall is provided to separate the space between the first gas generation part and the plate, and the space between the second gas generation part and the plate.

Assignees

• Yoshida Akihito
• Sata Shunsuke
• Kaga Masaki
• Sharp Kk

Inventors

• Yoshida Akihito
• Sata Shunsuke
• Kaga Masaki

Classifications

• C25B1/02 Primary

  Hydrogen or oxygen · CPC title

• Y02E60/364

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01L31/076

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0682

  Electricity · mapped topic

• C25B1/003

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic