Dr. Ádám Balog, a member of the Photoelectrochemistry Research Group at the University of Szeged, participating in the National Laboratory for Renewable Energy (NLRE) project, shares his insights.
Within the framework of the NLRE project, the research group successfully carried out electrochemical processes that produced valuable chemical compounds at high reaction rates without the need for electrical energy input – relying solely on direct solar energy utilization.
The project played a key role in achieving the research objectives by:
- enabling the recruitment and funding of highly skilled researchers
- allowing the acquisition of essential equipment and instruments
- fostering new professional collaborations and partnerships
The group’s most important achievement was the successful validation of the research concept defined at the start of the project, which was published in the prestigious journal Nature Catalysis. The publication is available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-024-01134-3
The researchers demonstrated that using concentrated sunlight enables high reaction rates during photoelectrochemical glycerol oxidation, while maintaining product selectivity and system stability compared to measurements performed with 1 Sun illumination (the average intensity of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface). At the same time, the electrical energy required to achieve identical current densities can be significantly reduced compared to dark electrochemical reactions.
During their work, the team also designed a new electrochemical cell and contributed to clarifying previously controversial aspects of the complex mechanism of glycerol oxidation.
