- US patent protects the use of solar-powered water-splitting nanoparticles, which are key to the company’s economical hydrogen generation technology
SANTA BARBARA, CA, Oct. 16, 2018 — HyperSolar, Inc. (OTCQB: HYSR), the developer of a breakthrough technology to produce renewable hydrogen, using sunlight and any source of water, today announced that it was issued Patent No. 10100415 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for “Multi-junction artificial photosynthetic cell with enhanced photovoltages.”
The patent is critical to protecting the intellectual property related to the development of HyperSolar’s GEN 2 technology, a potentially very low-cost renewable hydrogen technology. This patent is jointly owned by HyperSolar and the Regents of the University of California, as a result of the collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara in developing the technology.
The patent protects the Company’s proprietary design of a self-contained high voltage solar-to-hydrogen device made up of billions of solar-powered water-splitting nanoparticles, per square centimeter. These nanoparticles consist of multiple layers of solar cells stacked on top of each other to increase the photovoltages for higher solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency.
The important aspect of the patented technology is the integrated structures of high-density arrays of nano-sized high voltage solar cells as the core of hydrogen production units. The nanoparticles can be produced on ultra-thin sheets through a roll-to-roll process which requires substantially lower materials cost and manufacturing cost compared to conventional solar cells used in rooftop power applications. Further, the manufacturing process uses low physical and carbon footprint and maximizes raw material utilization.
This GEN 2 technology is designed from the ground up to be extremely low cost. The Company believes it has the potential to produce “green” renewable hydrogen to replace “brown” hydrogen made from the steam reforming of natural gas, the primary generation method used to power the fast-growing hydrogen fuel-cell transportation sector for cars, trucks, busses and trains.
Commented HyperSolar’s CEO Tim Young, “We are very pleased to have achieved this major milestone in the development of our technology. The patent is critical to protecting the intellectual property related to the development our GEN 2 technology. It complements our other granted and pending patents and puts us a step closer to realizing our goal of renewable, low-cost hydrogen produced near or at the point of use, such as at hydrogen stations or in Amazon fulfillment centers where hydrogen fuel-cell powered forklifts are widely used”.
HyperSolar’s research is focused on developing a completely renewable, low-cost and submersible hydrogen production particle that can split water molecules using the power of the sun, emulating the core functions of photosynthesis. Each particle is a complete hydrogen generator that contains a novel high voltage solar cell bonded to chemical catalysts by a proprietary encapsulation coating. A video detailing the rise of hydrogen fuel technology, as well as HyperSolar’s completely renewable process of hydrogen fuel production can be viewed by visiting here.
About HyperSolar, Inc.
HyperSolar is developing a breakthrough, low-cost technology to make renewable hydrogen using sunlight and any source of water, including seawater and wastewater. Unlike hydrocarbon fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, where carbon dioxide and other contaminants are released into the atmosphere when used, hydrogen fuel usage produces pure water as the only byproduct. By optimizing the science of water electrolysis at the nano-level, our low-cost nanoparticles mimic photosynthesis to efficiently use sunlight to separate hydrogen from water, to produce environmentally friendly renewable hydrogen. Using our low-cost method to produce renewable hydrogen, we intend to enable a world of distributed hydrogen production for renewable electricity and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. To learn more about HyperSolar, please visit our website at www.hypersolar.com.
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