Experimental study of a hybrid photocatalytic hydrogen production reactor for Cu–Cl cycle

In this study, we perform experimental investigations of a novel hybrid photocatalytic hydrogen production reactor for a Cu–Cl cycle. The effects of different operating conditions, such as solar light intensity, mass of zinc sulfide and mass of Cu–Cl on rate of hydrogen production are studied. The experimental results show that the photocatalytic hydrogen production rate increases from 0.21 to 0.50 μg/s with an increase in solar light intensity, mass of CuCl and mass of ZnS from 400 to 500 W/m2, 5–10 g and 2–4 g, respectively. It is also observed that increasing the solar light intensity and the mass of ZnS from 400 to 500 W/m2 and 2–4 g, respectively results in increase in hydrogen production rate from 0.28 to 0.48 μg/s. The experimental results further show that replacing the electrolyzer component of Cu–Cl with the studied hybrid photocatalytic reactor can help in making the Cu–Cl cycle more environmentally benign.