Hydrogen production by laser irradiation of metals in water under an ultrasonic field: A novel approach

Abstract

An alternative method for hydrogen production by laser irradiation of metals in water is proposed. Metals such as Ti, Al, Mg an Al–Mg alloy and Si, were laser ablated and subjected to an ultrasonic field simultaneously to promote a displacement chemical reaction of hydrogen from water. The produced gas was characterized by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Molecular hydrogen was found suggesting that this procedure allows the production of H 2 of high purity. All the studied metals under laser irradiation produced H 2 and the volume rise as the laser fluence was increased following a no-linear monotonic behavior with a similar tendency. Without ultrasound the amount of hydrogen was significantly reduced. An important advantage of the proposed H 2 production method is the low amount of mass consumed which lead to maximum hydrogen production rates close to 1300 ml/min per gr of aluminum