Disclosed are a hydrogen generator and a method of producing hydrogen gas therefrom. A fuel unit containing a fuel that releases hydrogen gas when heated is removably disposed in a cavity within a housing having a door. A heater assembly for heating the fuel unit is disposed in the hydrogen generator. A mechanism retracts the heater assembly from the fuel unit when the door is opened and extends the heater assembly to contact the fuel unit when the door is closed. When the heater assembly is retracted, more space is available into which the fuel unit can be inserted to prevent damage to the heater assembly and the fuel unit, and when the heater assembly is extended, good contact is provided between the heater assembly and the fuel unit for efficient heating. A cam bar can move the heater assembly normal to the lateral motion of the cam bar.

InGaN offers a route to high efficiency overall water splitting under one-step photo-excitation. Further, the chemical stability of metal-nitrides supports their use as an alternative photocatalyst. However, the efficiency of overall water splitting using InGaN and other visible light responsive photocatalysts has remained extremely low despite prior art work addressing optical absorption through band gap engineering. Within this prior art the detrimental effects of unbalanced charge carrier extraction/collection on the efficiency of the four electron-hole water splitting reaction have remained largely unaddressed. To address this growth processes are presented that allow for controlled adjustment and establishment of the appropriate Fermi level and/or band bending in order to allow the photochemical water splitting to proceed at high rate and high efficiency. Beneficially, establishing such material surface charge properties also reduces photo-corrosion and instability under harsh photocatalysis conditions.

An electromagnetic resonance apparatus for molecular, atomic, and chemical modification of water is provided. The apparatus includes a water container, a resonance induction cell tower, an electronic control unit, a 12-volt power source, a DC to AC power inverter, and a pressure vessel for storing produced hydrogen gas. An electronic control unit is used to provide vibrational energy to the cell tower to facilitate water decomposition.

The present invention provides a method of processing discharge gas containing ammonia, hydrogen, nitrogen, and an organic metal compound discharged from the production process of a gallium nitride compound semiconductor. The discharge gas is brought into contact with a cleaning agent prepared by impregnating an alkali metal compound with a metal oxide to remove the organic metal compound from the discharge gas. The discharge gas from which an organic metal compound is removed is brought into contact with an ammonia decomposition catalyst on heating to decompose the ammonia into nitrogen and hydrogen. The discharge gas in which ammonia is decomposed is brought into contact with palladium alloy membrane on heating to recover hydrogen that has penetrated through the palladium alloy membrane. After an organic metal compound is removed to liquefy the ammonia contained in the discharge gas as described above, a pressurization process and a cooling process is conducted by a heat pump to pressurize and cool the discharge gas from which an organic metal compound is removed to liquefy the ammonia contained in the discharge gas and separate the liquefied ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen so as to recover the liquefied ammonia. The recovered hydrogen and ammonia are supplied to and reused in the production process of a gallium nitride compound semiconductor.

A process and a device are described for producing high purity and high temperature steam from non-pure water which may be used in a variety of industrial processes that involve high temperature heat applications. The process and device may be used with technologies that generate steam using a variety of heat sources, such as, for example industrial furnaces, petrochemical plants, and emissions from incinerators. Of particular interest is the application in a thermochemical hydrogen production cycle such as the Cu—Cl Cycle. Non-pure water is used as the feed-stock in the thermochemical hydrogen production cycle, with no need to adopt additional and conventional water pre-treatment and purification processes. The non-pure water may be selected from brackish water, saline water, seawater, used water, effluent treated water, tailings water, and other forms of water that is generally believed to be unusable as a direct feed-stock of industrial processes. The direct usage of this water can significantly reduce water supply costs.

A method for producing a transparent electrode for oxygen production having a Ta nitride layer on a transparent substrate, including: a step of forming a Ta nitride precursor layer on the transparent substrate; and a step of nitriding the Ta nitride precursor layer with a mixed gas containing ammonia and a carrier gas.

Disclosed is a visible light responsive photocatalyst that simultaneously realizes high crystallinity and refinement of primary particles. Also disclosed is a photocatalyst composed of secondary particles that have a high porosity and are aggregates of fine primary particles. Rhodium-doped strontium titanate that is a visible light responsive photocatalyst of the present invention has a primary particle diameter of not more than 70 nm and has a absorbance at a wavelength of 570 nm of not less than 0.6 and a absorbance at a wavelength of 1800 nm of not more than 0.7, each absorbance determining by measuring a diffuse reflection spectrum, the rhodium-doped strontium titanate having a high water-splitting activity as a photocatalyst.

Disclosed is a visible light responsive photocatalyst that simultaneously realizes high crystallinity and refinement of primary particles. Also disclosed is a photocatalyst composed of secondary particles that have a high porosity and are aggregates of fine primary particles. Rhodium-doped strontium titanate that is a visible light responsive photocatalyst of the present invention has a primary particle diameter of not more than 70 nm and has a absorbance at a wavelength of 570 nm of not less than 0.6 and a absorbance at a wavelength of 1800 nm of not more than 0.7, each absorbance determining by measuring a diffuse reflection spectrum, the rhodium-doped strontium titanate having a high water-splitting activity as a photocatalyst.

An ammonia decomposition catalyst contains a carrier containing a composite oxide of cerium (Ce) and praseodymium (Pr), and ruthenium (Ru), and the content of the composite oxide is 70 mass % or more with respect to the entire catalyst, and the molar ratio between Ce and Pr in the composite oxide is Ce:Pr=99:1 to 10:90.

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus related to a solar fuel generator. In one aspect, a device includes a photovoltaic cell, the photovoltaic cell having a first surface and a second surface, a mesh disposed on the first surface of the photovoltaic cell, and a polymer disposed on the mesh and on the first surface of the photovoltaic cell. The mesh has a catalyst disposed thereon. The polymer covers the first surface of the photovoltaic cell, with at least a portion of the mesh not being covered with the polymer.