Yearly Archives: 2020

Batteries and Turbines: Jacobs Graduate Research Day for Technion Graduate Students

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology held its third Jacobs Graduate Research Day last week. The event, in which graduate students present their research, was held under the framework of the Irving and Joan Jacobs Graduate School. 

A total of 42 Ph.D. students and 16 master’s degree students, who were chosen during preliminary faculty research days, presented a wide range of research. Two judging panels; one for Ph.D. students and one for master’s degree students, reviewed the posters and selected the winners.

In the doctoral category, David Kaiser, from the Interdisciplinary Energy Graduate Study Program, was awarded first place for his work on “Dynamic Stall-Driven Vertical Axis Wind Turbine” with his advisor, Professor David Greenblatt. According to the judges, this research creates the possibility “for the first time of turbines for urban environments, which can be placed on rooftops; they are inexpensive, quiet, and far more efficient than those currently available. Excellent poster and presentation.”

Second place went to Omer Adir from the Norman Seiden Multidisciplinary Graduate Program in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, in the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI), under the supervision of Associate Professor Avi Schroeder, for developing a model producing “Light-Communicating Synthetic Cells,” synthetic cells that activate other cells using light. 

The third place winner was Hadeel Khamis of the Faculty of Physics, under the supervision of Professor Ariel Kaplan, for research of “The Nanoscale Movement of Nucleosomes and its Effect on Gene Expression.”

A special citation was awarded to Tom Shaked from the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning for his work under the guidance of Professor Aaron Sprecher on “Technical Indeterminism: Toward a Sensible Architectural Tool.”  

Lior Levy from the department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering received the title of “Crowd Favorite” For “Nanoghosts: A Cell-Free Nanometric System for Off-the-Shelf Cancer Immunotherapy,” under the supervision of Professor Marcelle Machluf.

In the master’s degree category, Pavel Lifshits of the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering won first place for his work on “Power to Peep All: Inference Attacks by Malicious Batteries on Mobile Device,” under the supervision of Associate Professor Mark Silberstein and Associate Professor Ronen Talmon.” The judges panel noted that they were impressed by the “innovative discovery and the contribution to society and the international by finding security breaches arising from batteries in smart devices.” 

Second place was won by Mohamad Suliman of the Faculty of Materials Science Engineering for his work on “Flexible Quantum Electronics” under the guidance of Dr. Ivry Yachin. 

 Second place was shared by Dina Mukha of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, with Dr. Omer Yehezkeli as her advisor on “Enzyme-based Photoelectrochemical Systems used for Photobiocatalytic Process;” and Tzabar Dolev from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering for his work under the supervision of Professor Anath Fisher, on “3D Dimension Extraction from a Scanned Hand for Design and Modeling of Hand Prostheses Using Deep-Learning Methods.” 

The title of “Crowd Favorite” was awarded to Gal Chen from the Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Graduate Study Program, under the supervision of Associate Professor Avi Schroeder, on “Integrating Synthetic Cells in Damaged Tissue to Promote the Formation of New Blood Vessels.” 

Historic moments: Technion and the Churchill Family

Today, January 24, 2020, marks the 55th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill at the age of 91. Buried in St. Martin’s Church, Bladon just outside the Blenheim Palace grounds north of Oxford, Churchill was honored at his funeral by an assembly that brought together some of the greatest statesmen in world history. 

On this anniversary, the ongoing British – Technion relationship was again exemplified by a meeting between HRH Prince Charles and Technion Prof. Hossam Haick in which Prof. Haick showcased cutting edge technology for the rapid detection of cancer through sampling the breath.

Sir Winston Churchill

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa had a special connection with Sir Winston Churchill, and the central and largest conference hall on campus was named for him. 

British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill maintained a close and warm relationship with the Technion, and his descendants have continued to do so. In 1955, his son Randolph Churchill visited the Technion and signed the cornerstone scroll for the Churchill Building. He brought with him a message from his father: “I am very sorry for being unable to attend the opening of the new Technion conference building … You are to be commended for the development of your country’s technological achievements. 

Two official letters from Winston Churchill to the Technion’s administration were found in the Technion’s archive. In the first letter, dated November 20, 1954, Churchill – who was then Great Britain’s Prime Minister – thanked the Technion’s administration “for the decision to name after me two buildings on the new campus… I am truly honored that some buildings of the Israel Institute of Technology are to be named after me and that my name will be associated with an undertaking devoted to the advancement of knowledge and human well-being.”  

He notes that the Technion is essential to the future prosperity of the State of Israel and that this prosperity will certainly benefit other countries. “Israel has no lack of skil[l]ful professional men professionals, scientists and artists, but these, with all their gifts, cannot alone solve all of Israel’s present economic problems. She needs also technicians and craftsmen to build new towns and factories and to bring what is now desert under cultivation.”

In the second letter, from May 1958, Sir Winston Churchill – who was already a private person – apologizes for being unable to visit the Technion. “I have been a Zionist for many years, and I view with pleasure and admiration the maturing of the State of Israel … I pray that your efforts will be crowned with success to the detriment of none and to the lasting benefit of all the peoples of the Middle East.” He was represented at the inauguration of Churchill Hall at the Technion by his second daughter, Sarah Churchill.  

Two months later, on July 3, 1958, at his London residence, Sir Winston Churchill handed the key to the Technion Hall to Israel’s Ambassador to Britain Eliahu Eilat. 

Churchill’s grandson, Winston Spencer Churchill, also visited the Technion and was involved in the restoration of the Churchill Building after it was damaged by a fire. He was awarded a Technion Honorary Doctorate in 1997.

The Churchill Building at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa

Screening for Cancer Made Easy:

Technion Professor Hossam Haick tells Prince Charles about his invention of SniffPhone 

Britain’s National Health Service vastly enriched by innovation from Israel, according to HRH Charles, Prince of Wales, who is visiting Israel to attend the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem.

Technion Prof. Hossam Haick and HRH Prince Charles.

Prince Charles was speaking after being presented with what he called: “Riveting developments and ingenious inventions.” These presentations included the SniffPhone, from Technion Professor Hossam Haick. Speaking at a reception at UK Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan’s residence in Ramat Gan on Thursday, Prince Charles said:  “It seems to me like Israeli genius is maintaining the entire structure of the NHS, along with a great deal of other technology.”

The Sniffphone is a device that uses nanotechnology sensors to analyze biomarkers in the breath, accurately diagnosing certain diseases such as cancer, pulmonary disease, and even early stages of neurodegenerative diseases. The SniffPhone is targetted to meet the criteria of ideal screening for disease: to be highly accurate, low in cost, easy to use, comfortable for the patient, and easily repeatable. It has an unparalleled advantage over traditional screening methods: the device is comfortable and painless to use and provides a simple and cost-effective alternative for medical professionals.

“Prince Charles is an exceptionally forward-thinking and sharp individual who is a pleasure to talk to,” said Prof. Haick. “I would be delighted to welcome him one day in my lab and show him around Technion”

It is notable that the meeting of Prince Charles and Nazareth-born Professor Haick happened on the 55th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill.  Sir Winston Churchill played a crucial role in the foundation of Israel. In 1958 the Churchill Building and Auditorium at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology was dedicated to the great leader with the participation of Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and members of the Churchill family. 

Winston Churchill sent a letter to the Technion in November 1954, which read: “I feel truly honored that some new buildings at the Israel Institute of Technology are to be named after me and that my name will be associated with an undertaking devoted to the advancement of knowledge and human well-being.” Within the Technion – Churchill legacy, the grandson of Winston Churchill received a Technion honorary doctorate in 1997.

With a new historic synergy, Prince Charles is honoring Sir Winston Churchill’s memory in meeting Professor Hossam Haick, one of Israel’s leading scientists.

A joint study by researchers at the Technion and the Davidson Institute of Science Education reveals: Scientific news authored by scientists is as interesting to online news readers as content written by journalists

Prof. Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, head of the Applied Science Communication Research Group in the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology at the Technion

Scientific articles written by scientists are as interesting to news consumers as scientific and other articles written by journalists. This, according to a study published last week in PLOS ONE by researchers from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and the Davidson Institute of Science Education, the educational arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

The research was led by Yael Barel-Ben David, a doctoral student who is part of the Applied Science Communication research group at the Technion. According to Barel-Ben David: “Political events often push scientific news aside, and news editors perceive science as less interesting to their readers. Our study makes it clear that online readers are interested in scientific content written by scientists, just as much as in comparable content. I hope our findings encourage editors of news sites and scientists to publish more quality scientific content, knowing that they have a curious audience.”

The study used an intriguing method. It compared readers’ online engagement between 150 pairs of articles on two major Israeli news websites.  Within each pair was one article that was authored by a science graduate participating in the ‘Writing Program’ of the Davidson Institute of Science Education, giving on the job training to science graduates in popular science writing. The second article in each pair was written by other website writers and was published in the same section, mostly on the same day. 

Yael Barel-Ben David

Researchers were surprised to find that scientific articles written by scientists are as interesting to the public as scientific and other articles written by journalists. No significant differences were found in the number of views, length of reading, likes or comments. In fact, the average number of views of scientist-authored articles on the Ynet website was 20 percent higher than the average number of views of other articles available at the same time in the same section.  

 The research was facilitated by the willingness of leading news site editors, Mako and Ynet, to provide researchers with readers’ interaction metrics for content posted on these sites. Based on this data, the researchers compared the number of views per article, the average length of stay in the article, and the number of responses and likes. 

“Many editors claim that science doesn’t ‘sell’,” says Prof. Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, head of the Applied Science Communication research group in the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology at the Technion. “Our findings demonstrate that if you package science in an interesting and relevant way, and not only publish it in the ‘ghetto’ of the science section, it will also attract readers who are not declared science enthusiasts.”

Dr. Erez Garty, head of the Science Communications field at the Davidson Institute

“Science is interesting content.” says Head of the Science Communications field at the Davidson Institute, Dr. Erez Garty, who leads the writing program for scientists initiative. “Science takes a variety of phenomena in the world and explains how they work. When presenting scientific content to the public on news platforms, people will read it exactly as they read the news in every other field. After all, science is life itself.”

To read the study click here

Technion-developed technology will protect the respiratory tract of premature infants who need assisted ventilation

Researchers from the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering are the first to point to the damage of the jet of air exiting from the endotracheal ventilation tube

Doctoral student Eliram Nof (on the right) and Professor Josué Sznitman

A new artificial model of premature infants will facilitate experiments that could reduce injury to infants on respirators. The study, published in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface was conducted by doctoral student Eliram Nof and Professor Josué Sznitman of the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Dan Waisman, director of the Newborn Unit at the Carmel Medical Center.

More than 10 percent of babies worldwide are born prematurely. Infants in general, and premature babies in particular, are limited in their function in various aspects since their organs have not been able to develop properly. One of these is the respiratory system, which reaches full function only late during fetal development. This is the reason why premature birth is often characterized by respiratory distress, in part due to the lack of a unique soapy substance (surfactant), that prevents the collapse of the lungs and facilitates breathing.

The experimental setup – including a reconstructed upper airway “lung” model developed at the Technion.
Photo credit: Nitzan Zohar, Technion Spokesperson’s Office

Fortunately, modern medicine is able to cope with this problem and save premature infants, mainly by providing an exterior surfactant that is delivered in conjunction with a ventilation machine – a breathing apparatus that pumps air into the baby’s respiratory tract through an orally inserted tube.

However, in its current form, the use of a respirator is not without problems. One of the possible side effects in premature infants using a ventilation machine is damage to the lung tissue. There is no standardization for choosing ventilator operating parameters like the percentage of oxygen in the infused air, the volume of air, the pressure, the rate, and more. Doctors do their best to make adjustments based on each infant’s condition and to minimize injury. Yet, many infants are injured during this process that is nevertheless vital to saving their lives.

This is where the unique model developed by Technion researchers comes into the picture. After prolonged research activity at the levels of mathematical modeling of respiratory airflows, Mr. Nof and Prof. Sznitman developed a physical silicone model that simulates – in 3D and in real size – the upper respiratory tract of a premature baby.

The researchers were surprised to discover a phenomenon not mentioned at all in the medical literature: an air jet at the exit of the tube inserted into the mouth of the baby.

“Until now, it was known that the tube could cause abrasive injury to the delicate tissue but the effects of the airflow were overlooked,” said Nof. “In the present study, we discovered for the first time, that due to its location inside the baby’s trachea, this jet exerts strong shear forces on the epithelial tissue – the layer of cells that covers the upper airways. These forces can cause damage, including inflammation, which poses a real risk to the premature infant.”

The researchers examined these findings in a silicon model and found that indeed, the jet exerts friction on the lung tissue that can cause significant damage. With further study, they intend to grow live biological cells onto the model and examine the effect of the jet on them.

The good news, however, is that from the findings, the researchers have made recommendations as to the desired respiratory protocols. In their estimation, adjusting respiratory protocols to the flow configuration in the baby’s respiratory system may reduce the damage described here and improve the chances of these infants to develop a proper respiratory system.

These conclusions are in line with the overall trend in the premature department of the Rambam Health Care Campus – a trend to reduce invasiveness in treatment and to reduce the use of invasive respiration as much as possible.

According to Dr. Liron Borenstein, senior physician in the Department of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care at the Rambam: “With advances in medicine, we are today able to treat younger premature infants and more complex illnesses. However, respiratory morbidity is still a significant factor in premature infant mortality and morbidity. The technology presented in this article – creating a model of a healthy, specific area and exploring the forces exerted on the tissue by an air jet created under invasive respiration – can advance us in understanding the mechanisms leading to the damages of ventilation that we want to prevent and in developing gentler breathing techniques that are appropriate for the premature infant population.”

Professor Josué Sznitman was born in France and raised in the United States and Switzerland. In the Summer of 2010, with a doctorate from ETH Zurich, he made aliyah to Israel and joined the faculty of the Technion. He has won numerous awards including the Young Researcher Award from the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine (ISAM) for a researcher under the age of 40. He currently heads the Biofluids Lab at the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering. Prof. Sznitman developed the first diagnostic tool that allows quantitative monitoring of the dynamics of inhaled particles in the respiratory system. This “acinus-on-chip” is relevant for both health risk assessment (infections, etc.) and for evaluation and planning of medication for the respiratory system.

Eliram Nof made aliyah from the United States at the age of 18 to enlist in the IDF. After completing his military service, he pursued bachelor’s and master’s degrees through a fast track at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Ben Gurion University. His master’s work, under the guidance of Prof. Oren Sadot and Prof. Gabi Ben-Dor at the Shock Wave Research Laboratory, investigated the effects of supersonic flow in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense. In preparation for his Ph.D., Eliram decided to apply his background in fluid dynamics to problems in the medical world, thus the collaboration with Prof. Sznitman, who advises him on his doctoral degree.

For the full article in Interface Journal of The Royal Society click here

Threading ultralong DNA through a nanopore

Researchers at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology disentangled and threaded a DNA molecule that is hundreds of thousands of nucleobase base pairs long through a nanopore. This breakthrough is expected to facilitate the study of genomic DNA.

l-r: Dr. Diana Huttner, PhD student Adam Zrehen, Professor Amit Meller.

The nanopore device was developed by Professor Amit Meller, Dr. Diana Huttner, and PhD student Adam Zrehen of the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering. Their pioneering research was described in a paper published in the November 2019 issue of ACS Nano.

Nanopore sensors are used to read the genetic code in DNA, which is composed of bases or “letters.” The sensor consists of a nanoscale pore about 1/10,000 the diameter of human hair, through which a single DNA is threaded and read. While reading short DNA strands such as that of viruses is routine, it is especially difficult to thread intact ultralong human DNA through such a tiny aperture because DNA forms a random coil in solution. The process can be likened to threading tangled yarn through a needle. 

Prof. Meller and his team successfully disentangled and threaded a DNA molecule that is hundreds of thousands of base pairs long through a nanopore. The DNA was labelled by using light-emitting dyes so that it can be tracked and manipulated in real-time by pressure and electric fields in a glass-sealed silicon chip about the size of a coin. 

The device developed by the researchers is designed for simultaneous electrical and optical detection and sorting of ultralong (~500 kilobase pair) genomic DNA. Fabricated in silicon, it features a central pillar array for stretching the ultralong DNA and a narrow channel for funneling the linearized molecule to the nanopore. The nanopore is “drilled” directly in the channel by using a focused laser that controllably etches minute amounts of material. The low height profile of the device permits high numerical aperture and high magnification imaging of individual DNA molecules. 

As the first direct visualization of DNA threading through a nanopore while recording its electrical signal, the study furthers the understanding of the DNA capture and threading process,. It also promotes the development of all-in-one micro/nanofluidic platforms for nanopore sensing of biomolecules. Extremely low concentrations (50 fM) and sample volumes (∼1 μL) of DNA can be processed, making the device highly compatible with clinical samples. 

Since reading long, intact DNA is less prone to error compared with assembling many small DNA fragments, the researchers anticipate their design will play an important role in studying genomic DNA.

The project received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and was also supported by the i-Core program of the Israel Science Foundation.

Click here for the paper in ACS Nano.

Bauhaus on the Carmel: Modern Architectures and the Challenge of Co-Existence in Haifa

The Avie and Sarah Arenson Built Heritage Research Center’s annual symposium, co-sponsored by Technion and the City of Haifa, took place in Haifa’s City Hall on November 28th. The Center is a research hub located in Technion’s Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, and it is dedicated to studying the design traditions of Israel’s built environment. The full-day event paid homage to the 1993 book “Bauhaus on the Carmel and the Crossroads of Empire” by Gilbert Herbert and Silvina Sosnovsky, and was moderated by Prof. Alona Nitzan-Shiftan of Technion’s Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, who heads the Avie and Sarah Arenson Built Heritage Research Center. The symposium was part of a series of events marking 100 years of Bauhaus in Haifa. 

During the 1920s and 1930s, approximately 100 European architects made Aliyah and many proceeded to design buildings in pre-State Palestine in what has been labeled the International Style, inspired by German and Austrian schools, including Bauhaus. Although Tel Aviv is better known for its Bauhaus architecture, Haifa is actually home to a larger number of buildings built in this style, including the neighborhood of Hadar HaCarmel, which was designed by German-immigrant architect Richard Kauffmann. Unfortunately, most of these buildings have not been preserved and Haifa’s role as a center of Bauhaus architecture has largely been ignored. 

מימין לשמאל: מנחם גץ (נשיא מועדון רוטרי חיפה), אלונה נצן שיפטן (יו״ר המרכז לחקר המורשת הבנויה ע״ש אבי ושרה ארנסון בטכניון)ונתן פלדמן (מועדון רוטרי חיפה)

מימין לשמאל: נתן פלדמן (מועדון רוטרי חיפה), וורנר מולר (באוהאוס דסאו), יאשה גרובמן (דיקן הפקולטה לארכיטקטורה ובינוי ערים בטכניון), מנחם גץ (נשיא מועדון רוטרי חיפה)

שרה ארנסון בכנס

Prof. Jacob Grobman, Dean of Technion’s Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, announced at the symposium that this year would be the “Year of Haifa” at the Faculty. “We are sitting on a jewel. We want to help the city uncover the treasure and make Haifa shine again,” he said. 

In her opening remarks, Haifa mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem noted that one of her first steps upon taking office a year ago was to plan the Bauhaus centennial celebrations in Haifa. The subject is close to her heart, as she herself is a Technion-trained architect and urban planner who served as the chair of the Haifa Architects Association. “Haifa needs to rethink its economic development. One of its biggest assets is its architectural heritage, and we must convince residents and developers to preserve this gem,” she said. The mayor revealed that her dream is for Haifa to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, just like Tel Aviv.

Sarah Arenson, who is a Technion Honorary Fellow, spoke about how architecture is a major tool in shaping public space. “It is important to preserve the past while building the future, and this is where academic research meets public interest,” she said. Arensen is grateful to Technion’s Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, which “understands that our future must grow from our diverse past heritage.” She believes deeply in the importance of strong town-gown relations between Technion and the city of Haifa.

Although the Bauhaus School was located in Germany, its impact was strongly felt in Austria as well. For this reason, the symposium included lectures by Bauhaus experts and architects from both Germany and Austria. Arno Mitterdorfer, the Cultural Attaché at the Austrian Embassy in Israel, spoke eloquently about the connection between Austria and Haifa. In the 1902 book Altneuland, Theodor Herzl, who was of course Austrian, wrote about Haifa as a futuristic utopian city. Later, in the 1930s, numerous Jewish architects who were trained in Vienna found safe haven in Haifa and were influential in building the city.

Prof. Werner Möller of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, described how the Bauhaus School wanted to change society by encouraging communal living, and drew a parallel between the Bauhaus ideology and that of the early pioneers in pre-State Palestine, especially the kibbutzim. Prof. Rudolf Lückmann of Anhalt University of Applied Science in Germany spoke about Bauhaus’ extensive Jewish connection. Numerous Jews were trained at the school and a large share of the architects’ clients was Jewish. His lecture focused on Leopold Fischer, a Jewish Bauhaus-trained architect. Prof. Alfred Jacoby, also from Anhalt University, spent a year at Technion 25 years ago and has a deep relationship with Haifa and Technion. He also spoke about the Jewish roots of Bauhaus. 

Matthias Dorfstetter from the Vienna University of Technology, discussed the work of Vienna-trained architects in Haifa in the 1930s. “Around 100 architects came from Europe, many of them from Austria. Six were Bauhaus students,” he noted. Vienna-trained architects who designed buildings in Haifa in the International (Bauhaus) style during the 1930s included Paul Engelmann, Leopold Krakauer, Alfred Goldberger and Gideon Kaminka. 

The filmmaker Amos Gitai gave a fascinating talk about his father, Munio Weinraub Gitai, who studied at the Bauhaus School and immigrated to Haifa, eventually designing over 8,000 buildings around the country, including the central synagogue in Haifa. 

Prof. Or Aleksandrowicz, an expert on building climatology from Technion’s Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, described how, in early 20th-century Palestine, a scientifically rigorous attempt was made for the first time to include climate in building design. In 1909, architect Alexander Baerwald, who immigrated to Haifa from Germany, took into account the importance of sun and wind when designing the first Technion building. The well-known architect Arieh Sharon, who studied at the Bauhaus School under Walter Gropius and Hannes Meyer, also saw climate as a crucial component of healthy design, although several of his premises proved to be erroneous.  

Waleed Karkabi, head of Haifa’s Building Conservation Team, provided an interesting overview of Arab-Jewish architectural cooperation during the British Mandate. He explained that the British designated Haifa to be their main administrative center in the Middle East and that the city’s population grew exponentially during the 1930s and 1940s. One of the main projects in those years was the construction of Haifa’s new port, which was built in the International Style. Many of the architects who escaped from the Nazis and moved to Haifa designed homes for Haifa’s Arab elite. One of the most prolific was Moshe Gerstel, who also designed the iconic Talpiot Market on Sirkin Street.  

The Haifa-based architect Adeeb Daoud Naccache, an expert on restoration and preservation in Israel’s Arab sector, spoke about an architectural style developed in the late 1930s and known as Levantine Modernism. The style was exemplified by Haifa’s Garden Mansions project, which was designed by the Lebanese architect Antoine Tabet. 

Technion researchers have developed the world’s first system using solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen at two separate sites

Doctoral student Avigail Landman (on the right) and master’s student Rawan Halabi

Researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have developed a prototype system for the efficient and safe production of hydrogen using only solar energy. Published in the journal Joule by the Cell group, the study was led by doctoral student Avigail Landman of the Grand Technion Energy Program, together with master’s student Rawan Halabi from the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering. The study was conducted under the joint guidance of Professor Gideon Grader of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Professor Avner Rothschild of the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Adélio Mendes and Dr. Paula Dias of the University of Porto in Portugal.

Professor Avner Rothschild

The innovative system contains a tandem cell solar device, which enables more efficient utilization of the light spectrum. Some of the sun’s radiation is absorbed in the upper layer, which is made of semi-transparent iron oxide. The radiation that is not absorbed in this layer passes through it and is subsequently absorbed by a photovoltaic cell. Together, the two layers of the system provide the energy needed to decompose the water.

From Theory to Application

The innovative system is a continuation of the theoretical breakthrough by the Technion research team, presented in a March 2017 article in Nature Materials. In that article, the researchers introduced a paradigmatic shift in hydrogen production: Instead of one production cell where the water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen, the researchers developed a system where hydrogen and oxygen are formed in two completely different cells. This development is important in part because mixing oxygen and hydrogen creates an explosive and dangerous interaction. The researchers presented the proof of feasibility in a laboratory system operated with a conventional power source. 

Professor Gideon Grader

Now, in the current study in Joule, the researchers present the realization of the theory in applied development – a photoelectrochemical prototype system that produces hydrogen and oxygen in two separate cells using only sunlight. As part of the experiment, approximately 80 working hours (10 days of about 8 hours) were conducted, demonstrating the efficiency of the system in natural sunlight. The experiment was conducted in the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at the Technion.

Background

Hydrogen is a highly sought-after material in many areas of our lives. Most of the hydrogen generated today is used to make ammonia for the production of fertilizers that are essential for modern agriculture. Additionally, hydrogen is one of the leading alternative fuel sources, especially in the context of automotive propulsion. In the context of transportation, hydrogen has several advantages over mineral-based fuels:

• it can be generated from water using green energy such as solar energy, reducing dependence on mineral fuels and dependence on countries rich in oil reserves;
• hydrogen production from water allows the storage of renewable energy such as solar and wind, which are not available all hours of the day;
• unlike diesel and gasoline engines that emit large amounts of air pollution, the only byproduct of hydrogen engines is water.

Professor Adélio Mendes

Today, most of the world’s hydrogen is produced from natural gas. But with this process comes the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), whose environmental damage is well known. An alternative production method is electrolysis – decomposition of water (H2O) for hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). Although the electrolysis process was discovered more than two hundred years ago, not many electrolysis technologies have been developed. In recent years, with the vital transition to alternative energies, it has become clear that the electrolysis process needs to be refined to fit these energy sources.

Against this backdrop, the photoelectrochemical process developed, which breaks down the water directly using the Sunlight radiation. Although here too, there are various technological challenges. For example, the production of hydrogen using the conventional method of electrolysis – the decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen in the same production cell – involves risk because the encounter between hydrogen and oxygen leads to an explosion. Moreover, in large-scale solar fields, it is very difficult to produce hydrogen in this configuration. Hence the importance of the current breakthrough presented in Joule.

Dr. Paula Dias

The researchers hope that academics and industry will continue and advance the system into a commercial product.

The research was supported by the Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP), funding from U.S. donor Ed Satell, the Adelis Foundation, Ministry of Energy and the European Commission (two ERC grants), and the National Science Foundation PAT Excellence Center.

For the full article in Joule click here