Thermochemical Production of Hydrogen by Splitting of Water

The copper-chloride cycle is one of the few low-temperature thermochemical cycles( maximum temperature < 850 K)  that has been proposed for the production of hydrogen by splitting of water. For this reason,  its lab-scale implementation has been extensively investigated by researchers at UOIT, the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL).

Research carried out in our group has contributed to a better understanding of the cycle reactions, particularly the formation of reaction by-products in the hydrolysis and decomposition steps. In collaboration with two research groups in Argentina, we are exploring new opportunities in the area of production of hydrogen using photoelectrochemical methods.

Selected Publications:

  1. Ferrandon M., Daggupati V., Wang F., Naterer G., Trevani L. (2015). Using XANES to obtain mechanistic information for the hydrolysis of CuCl2 and the decomposition of Cu2OCl2 in the thermochemical Cu-Cl cycle for H2 production, J. Thermal Anal. Calorim., 119 (2), 975-982.

  2. Nixon A., Ferrandon M., Kaye M.H., Trevani L. (2012). Thermochemical production of hydrogen: Synthesis, characterization, and decomposition of copper oxychloride. J. Therm. Anal. Calorim., 110 (3), 1095-1105.

  3. Trevani L., Ehlerova J., Sedlbauer J., and Tremaine P.R. (2010). Complexation in the Cu(II)-LiCl-H2O system at temperatures to 423 K by UV-visible spectroscopy, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 35, 4893-4900.