Hydrogen production by microwave discharge in liquid: Study on the characteristics effect of suspended electrode

In order to further improve the hydrogen production efficiency of microwave liquid-phase discharge, a three-electrode reactor was designed and a suspended electrode was added. The internal structure of the three-electrode reactor was optimized. The formation of bubbles during the discharge and the change characteristics of plasma morphology were studied after adding the suspended electrode. In addition to investigating the physical influence of the suspended electrode on the discharge plasma, the influences of the different electrode materials and specific surface area of the suspension electrode on the composition of the gas products, the hydrogen flow rate and the hydrogen energy yield were also investigated. The experimental results show that the suspended electrode can increase the formation time of plasma and bubble. In this study, the highest flow rate of total gas is 29.5 NL/min with the 80 PPI-Cu foamed metal suspended electrode which is an increase of 31.5% than no suspended electrode. • Suspended electrode with high specific surface area is used. • The effect of suspended electrode on bubble residence time is discussed. • The energy yield of hydrogen production increased by 34.6%.