Evaluating influences of impurities on hydrogen production in the reaction of Si with water using Si sludge

Hydrogen has attracted much attention as a next-generation energy resource. Among various technologies, one of the promising approaches for hydrogen production is the use of the reaction between Si and water, which does not require any heat, electricity, and light energy as an input. Notwithstanding the usefulness of Si as a prospective raw material of hydrogen production, the manufacturing process of Si requires a significant amount of energy. Therefore, as an alternative to pure Si, this study used a wasted Si sludge, generated though the manufacturing process of Si wafer, for the direct reuse. Thus, the Si-water reaction for the hydrogen generation was investigated in comparison with pure Si and Si sludge by employing X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) to evaluate the feasibility of hydrogen production with the use of Si sludge and to identify the influence of impurities contained in Si sludge. As a result, hydrogen was not produced with the use of Si sludge because of containing Al compound as the impurity. Through the XANES analysis, the formation of SiO(OH)(2) was found as core-shell structure, which potentially would hinder the hydrogen generation. (c) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The reaction between silicon and water is considered a promising method for hydrogen production, but the manufacturing process of silicon requires a significant amount of energy. Research found that hydrogen cannot be produced from silicon sludge, potentially due to the presence of Al compounds as impurities, forming a hindering core-shell structure for hydrogen generation.