title: An integrated photoelectrochemical-chemical loop for solar-driven overall splitting of hydrogen sulfide.
abstract: Abundant and toxic hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) from industry and nature has been traditionally considered a liability. However, it represents a potential resource if valuable H2 and elemental sulfur can be simultaneously extracted through a H2 S splitting reaction. Herein a photochemical-chemical loop linked by redox couples such as Fe(2+) /Fe(3+) and I(-) /I3 (-) for photoelectrochemical H2 production and H2 S chemical absorption redox reactions are reported. Using functionalized Si as photoelectrodes, H2 S was successfully split into elemental sulfur and H2 with high stability and selectivity under simulated solar light. This new conceptual design will not only provide a possible route for using solar energy to convert H2 S into valuable resources, but also sheds light on some challenging photochemical reactions such as CH4 activation and CO2 reduction.
authors.affiliation: Nanomaterials Centre, School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072 (Australia).
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zong
authors.forename: Jingfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Seger
authors.forename: Hongjun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Gaoqing Max
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lianzhou
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: H2S splitting; hydrogen generation; photoelectrochemistry; solar energy; sulfur