Which parameter has a greater effect on the hydrogen production rate in the photoelectrochemical method - increasing the electrode’s active area or the solution conductivity?
The carbon monoxide is reacted with water to produce additional hydrogen. This method is the cheapest, most efficient, and most common. Natural gas reforming using steam accounts for the majority of hydrogen produced in the United States annually.
Dear Ali,
In my opinion, the two of the parameters are of completely different contexts. One is intrinsic and the other is extrinsic, while both have effects on the performance. Since the solution conductivity largely determines the bulk polarization of the whole system, it has a significant effect on the hydrogen production rate. Yet, it is not always possible to increase it above a certain limit considering the stability of cell components.
On the other hand, the electrode area is in our hands. Since we mostly report the photoelectrochemical activity in form of current density per unit area (mA/cm2), it, in turn, shouldn't have an effect on the performance. In practice, the working electrode area shouldn't be so large that the reactions at the counter electrode become the rate-limiting step.
Hi Ali
It is obvious that increasing the surface area of the electrode, taking into account the ohmic losses and changes due to pH gradient , directly affects the rate of hydrogen production, but your discussion of increasing the conductivity of the solution complicates matters a bit. How and at what cost and to what extent you want to do this. In addition, what effect will this have on the kinetics of reactions?
In my opinion, the definitive answer depends on how to increase the electrical conductivity of the solution.
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