Electrochemical water splitting powered by conventional electricity or photovoltaic arrays produces molecular hydrogen at the cathode while organic compound oxidation under mild conditions takes place at the anode in competition with the production of oxygen. An electrolytic cell, which is based on the coupling of bismuth-doped titanium dioxide anodes (BiO_x-TiO₂) with stainless steel cathodes (SS), is characterized in terms of hydrogen production efficiency and organic compound degradation. In the solar-powered PV-electrochemical system, the production of molecular oxygen at the anode is suppressed by the simultaneous oxidation and mineralization of organic compounds dissolved in water. In addition, the anodic oxidation of organic substrates has a synergistic effect on hydrogen production at the cathode that results in a 53% increase in the energy efficiency for H₂ generation at circum-neutral pH in the presence of dilute electrolyte solutions.

We envision that hybrid PV electrochemical systems could be used for solar powered water purification coupled with the generation of a potentially useful and energy rich byproduct

Hydrogen generation in realtime can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDpbxEvXb_o