ABSTRACT
A new method of hydrogen generation from water, by irradiation with CW infrared laser diode of graphene scaffold immersed in solution, is reported. Hydrogen production was extremely efficient upon admixing NaCl into water. The efficiency of hydrogen production increased exponentially with laser power. It was shown that hydrogen production was highly efficient when the intense white light emission induced by laser irradiation of graphene foam was occurring. The mechanism of laser-induced dissociation of water is discussed. It was found that hydrogen production was extremely high, at about 80%, and assisted by a small emission of O2, CO and CO2 gases.
ABSTRACT
The present work demonstrates a new concept of the efficient generation of hydrogen from methanol by the continuous wave laser diode irradiation of an immersed graphene aerogel (GA) scaffold as the target. It was observed that the process occurred very intensively when it was assisted by bright white light emission in the spot of a laser-irradiated GA scaffold. The yield of hydrogen emission increased exponentially with the applied laser power. The light emission was assisted by the intense production of H2, CH4, and CO gases. It was found that with increasing excitation laser power, the H2 generation increased at the expense of CO. It is shown that the volume of CO decreases because of the formation of C2 molecules and CO2 gases. The mechanism of the laser-driven dissociation of methanol was discussed in terms of the violent ejection of hot electrons from the GA surface as a result of the laser-induced light emission of the graphene target.
