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Nanostructured Cu-Zn Electrode Materials for Green Hydrogen Production
The continuity of human civilization heavily depends on securing sources of energy. After the 1970s energy crisis, scientists and engineers are meticulously looking for fuels that are alternatives to fossil fuels. Hydrogen can store solar energy to be further used as a fuel. One of the renewable way...
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2024
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| _version_ | 1867613423114649600 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Leil, Rahma |
| author_browse | Leil, Rahma |
| author_facet | Leil, Rahma |
| author_sort | Leil, Rahma |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The continuity of human civilization heavily depends on securing sources of energy. After the 1970s energy crisis, scientists and engineers are meticulously looking for fuels that are alternatives to fossil fuels. Hydrogen can store solar energy to be further used as a fuel. One of the renewable ways to produce hydrogen is Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. PEC water splitting is a promising way to produce green hydrogen. However, one of the bottlenecks in realizing scalable green hydrogen production systems is the inability to identify and fabricate earthabundant, stable, and durable photocathodes. The main challenges with the reported photocathodes so far are their instability in aqueous solutions and the use of precious unabundant materials. To this end, the use of scrap materials to fabricate highly stable photocathodes would solve the two main challenges. Herein, scrap brass alloys with different zinc contents were used to fabricate photocathodes for photoelectrochemical green hydrogen production. The scrap brass alloy with 5% Zn showed enhancement in the photocurrent density of -0.26 mA/cm2 at 0.62 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) , high long-term stability up to four hours under continuous illumination, high charge carrier density of 6.2×1021 cm-3 and less total resistance than the other brass samples. Through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the presence of surface states was verified. The 95Cu-5Zn sample showed an amount of evolved hydrogen of 0.2658 μmole after one hour of continuous illumination, while the 100Cu sample only showed 3.965 nmole after 20 minutes of continuous illumination before being completely reduced to copper. Density functional theory calculations were used to study the optical and electronic properties of the best-performing sample. This work is the first to systematically and fundamentally study scrap brass as a promising material for a more stable and durable PEC water splitting. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3276 |
| institution | American University in Cairo (Egypt) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:35:54.296Z |
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| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| publisherStr | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| spelling | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3276 Nanostructured Cu-Zn Electrode Materials for Green Hydrogen Production Leil, Rahma The continuity of human civilization heavily depends on securing sources of energy. After the 1970s energy crisis, scientists and engineers are meticulously looking for fuels that are alternatives to fossil fuels. Hydrogen can store solar energy to be further used as a fuel. One of the renewable ways to produce hydrogen is Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. PEC water splitting is a promising way to produce green hydrogen. However, one of the bottlenecks in realizing scalable green hydrogen production systems is the inability to identify and fabricate earthabundant, stable, and durable photocathodes. The main challenges with the reported photocathodes so far are their instability in aqueous solutions and the use of precious unabundant materials. To this end, the use of scrap materials to fabricate highly stable photocathodes would solve the two main challenges. Herein, scrap brass alloys with different zinc contents were used to fabricate photocathodes for photoelectrochemical green hydrogen production. The scrap brass alloy with 5% Zn showed enhancement in the photocurrent density of -0.26 mA/cm2 at 0.62 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) , high long-term stability up to four hours under continuous illumination, high charge carrier density of 6.2×1021 cm-3 and less total resistance than the other brass samples. Through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the presence of surface states was verified. The 95Cu-5Zn sample showed an amount of evolved hydrogen of 0.2658 μmole after one hour of continuous illumination, while the 100Cu sample only showed 3.965 nmole after 20 minutes of continuous illumination before being completely reduced to copper. Density functional theory calculations were used to study the optical and electronic properties of the best-performing sample. This work is the first to systematically and fundamentally study scrap brass as a promising material for a more stable and durable PEC water splitting. 2024-01-31T08:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2236 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3276/viewcontent/Rahma_Leil.thesis.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting DFT |
| spellingShingle | Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting DFT Leil, Rahma Nanostructured Cu-Zn Electrode Materials for Green Hydrogen Production |
| title | Nanostructured Cu-Zn Electrode Materials for Green Hydrogen Production |
| title_full | Nanostructured Cu-Zn Electrode Materials for Green Hydrogen Production |
| title_fullStr | Nanostructured Cu-Zn Electrode Materials for Green Hydrogen Production |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nanostructured Cu-Zn Electrode Materials for Green Hydrogen Production |
| title_short | Nanostructured Cu-Zn Electrode Materials for Green Hydrogen Production |
| title_sort | nanostructured cu zn electrode materials for green hydrogen production |
| topic | Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting DFT |
| url | https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2236 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3276/viewcontent/Rahma_Leil.thesis.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leilrahma nanostructuredcuznelectrodematerialsforgreenhydrogenproduction |