摘要或動機

1. Introduction In Japan the energy self-efficiency is very low: only 6%. Hydrogen (H2) has been expected as a new and alternative energy source to imported one, such as petroleum resources. Now hydrogen energy comes into the practical use in the field of the fuel cell. Hydrogen must be extracted from other sources, for example, water, fossil fuel, and so on. Hydrogen is obtained from water by using electronic or thermal or photo energy in most cases, whereas it is well-known that hydrogen is given by the oxidation reaction of silicon in alkaline aqueous solution: Si + 2OH- + H2O → SiO32- + 2H2 Free silicon (Si) is not only used in the steel refining, aluminum-casting in the field of fine chemical industries but also is used as a material in semiconductor electronics. However, a lot of used silicon is thrown away as a waste, being not reused and recycled. In this study we try to apply a waste silicon to obtain hydrogen based on the above reaction. The purpose of the study is to develop a safe and convenient manufacturing method to generate hydrogen for an energy source of the fuel cell.