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Guest blogger Paul Hinkin, managing director of Black Architecture on the ‘Hydrogen Age’

We are on the threshold of a new age, the ‘Hydrogen Age’, but there is a problem. How do we get the hydrogen to power our offices, homes, cars and buses? Currently most hydrogen is derived from, believe it or not, natural gas, which is obviously a finite resource. However Hydrogen Solar, a company based in the UK are developing a new generation of Tandem Cell solar panels which will use sunlight to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The Tandem Cell consists of two photo-catalytic cells in series: the front cell absorbs the high energy ultraviolet and blue light in sunlight, using nano-crystalline metal oxide thin films to generate electron-hole pairs. The longer wavelength light in the green to red region passes through the front cell and is absorbed in a Graetzel Cell producing electrical potential under nearly all light conditions. The two cells are connected electrically and together provide the potential required to split the water molecules in the electrolyte. The Cell is fabricated from widely-available and cheap materials.

This pioneering technology has the potential to create a new ’solar architecture’ where solar orientation becomes the key determinant of architectural form. Buildings will become hydrogen refineries supplying hydrogen fuel cells to provide clean renewable power. Vehicles will also be fuelled with hydrogen. The image at the top of the page is an illustration of a new hydrogen office concept in the City of London that we have developed to explore the application of this technology within the built environment.

Filed under: Energy, Green technology