Laser-Induced Hydrogen Generation from Methanol with Graphene Aerogel as the Target

The present work demonstrates a new concept of the efficient generation of hydrogen from methanol by the continuous wave laser diode irradiation of an immersed graphene aerogel (GA) scaffold as the target. It was observed that the process occurred very intensively when it was assisted by bright white light emission in the spot of a laser-irradiated GA scaffold. The yield of hydrogen emission increased exponentially with the applied laser power. The light emission was assisted by the intense production of H₂, CH₄, and CO gases. It was found that with increasing excitation laser power, the H₂ generation increased at the expense of CO. It is shown that the volume of CO decreases because of the formation of C₂ molecules and CO₂ gases. The mechanism of the laser-driven dissociation of methanol was discussed in terms of the violent ejection of hot electrons from the GA surface as a result of the laser-induced light emission of the graphene target.