Sparc Hydrogen, a joint venture between Sparc Technologies, Fortescue and Adelaide University, has entered into a technology collaboration and intellectual property protection agreement with SunHydrogen to advance direct solar water-splitting technology for green hydrogen production, Energy Source & Distribution reported.
Sparc Hydrogen has been developing patented photocatalytic water-splitting reactor technology since 2022 and has established a pilot plant at Roseworthy in South Australia. The facility is being used to test the technology under concentrated solar conditions as the company works towards commercialisation.
The agreement follows preliminary tests of SunHydrogen’s modules at Sparc Hydrogen’s laboratories, which demonstrated solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiencies of more than 10%.
The initial testing also showed that the SunHydrogen modules could operate under higher solar fluxes at moderate solar concentrations, potentially enabling higher hydrogen production rates.
Double-digit STH efficiency is considered a significant performance milestone for direct solar water-splitting technology and could support further scale-up and commercial development.
Sparc Hydrogen CEO Alana Barlow said the company was working with leading developers of photocatalyst and photoelectrochemical materials as part of its technology strategy.
Barlow said the laboratory results showed efficiencies above 10% and indicated that increasing solar concentration could raise hydrogen output. The agreement provides a milestone-based route to test the technology at pilot scale and assess its commercial potential, she added.
SunHydrogen President and CEO Tim Young said the results provided external validation of the company’s modules and showed that hydrogen production increased as sunlight was concentrated.
Young said the collaboration would allow SunHydrogen to test its modules in a reactor developed by specialists in concentrated-light photocatalysis while continuing its focus on producing low-cost, decentralised hydrogen from sunlight and water.
The companies said the collaboration is intended to establish a pathway from laboratory testing to pilot-scale demonstration and, potentially, commercial deployment.
