Outdoor sunlight-driven scalable water-gas shift reaction through novel photothermal device-supported CuOx/ZnO/Al2O3 nanosheets with a hydrogen generation rate of 192 mmol g−1 h−1

Hydrogen generation from water-gas shift (WGS) reaction requires the import of secondary energy, making it unsuitable for large scale applications. Herein, we present a new scalable system consisting of new photothermal device and catalysts that can produce hydrogen via the WGS reaction with zero additional energy import. The new photothermal device based on a chromium film can completely absorb sunlight, fully convert sunlight to heat energy and localize the heat energy synergistically, which makes a high temperature of 305 °C under one standard sunlight irradiation. The catalysts are scalable CuOx/ZnO/Al2O3 nanosheets (2D CuZnAl) with high WGS activity, which were synthesized via the surfactant effect of boric acid. The 2D CuZnAl could be heated to 297 °C under one standard solar irradiation with the new photothermal device. This new system shows a hydrogen production rate of 192.33 mmol g−1 h−1 under one standard sunlight irradiation, 402 times to that of the current record of the one sunlight-driven WGS reaction. Moreover, this new system could be amplified to industrial scale with 4.2 m2 of irradiated area and was able to generate 6.60 m3 of hydrogen from the WGS reaction solely driven by outdoor sunlight in the daytime of spring as well as realized a zero emission of CO2 with the help of a greenhouse agriculture. This study introduces a scalable, highly efficient zero CO2 emission and stable route of outdoor sunlight-driven hydrogen generation from the WGS reaction.