Lightfuel
Lightfuel is a privately held Delaware-registered C-corporation in the United States, established to commercialize patented strain-engineered semiconductor photocatalytic electrode technology developed over a decade by an international team of scientists. This technology produces low-cost hydrogen using only sunlight, water, and minimal electricity (also solar-powered), without generating carbon byproducts. To date, Lightfuel holds 28 granted or pending U.S. and international patents (including in China), covering photocatalytic electrodes, their application systems, solar-assisted hybrid electrolyzers, and more. The renewable, carbon-free, low-cost hydrogen produced by this technology will help slow global warming and enhance national energy security. Recent system tests confirm the technology has reached the highest Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9. The company is actively seeking strategic partners, technology licensing agreements, and investors in Asia.
Lightfuel’s flagship product is the LFG-80LH Solar-Assisted Hybrid Electrolyzer. Under sunlight, the LFG-80LH produces 80–160 liters of gaseous hydrogen per hour while consuming only one-third the electrical energy required by traditional alkaline or photovoltaic electrolyzers. Each LFG-80LH panel integrates Lightfuel’s patented photocatalytic electrode with a conventional alkaline electrolyzer anode, sharing a central hydrogen-evolving cathode. This synergistic structure maximizes hydrogen production per unit of electrical energy. Additionally, the photoelectrode combines photocatalytic and photothermal absorption, enabling efficient hydrogen production via the conventional anode even after sunset using retained panel heat, thereby lowering levelized capital expenditures and improving system operational characteristics. The product is applicable across transportation, energy storage, and industrial manufacturing sectors:
Transportation: On-site scalable, low-cost, low-to-zero-carbon hydrogen fuel for battery-electric vehicles, railways, ports/logistics, material handling, and other transport applications.
Energy Storage: Low-cost electricity storage with near-lossless round-trip efficiency.
Industrial Manufacturing: Low-cost renewable clean hydrogen for synthesizing high-value chemicals, semiconductor fabrication, and cleaner fossil fuel production.
Lightfuel’s patented TiO₂ Photoanode introduces nano-engineered high local strain, shifting TiO₂’s bandgap to the visible spectrum of sunlight for more efficient water splitting. For FCEV hydrogen vehicles, Lightfuel panels can deliver scalable distributed on-site hydrogen at < 2/kg@2/kg@0.10/kWh grid electricity, with one-third the carbon footprint or zero carbon emissions and one-third renewable electricity input. A 3-hectare Lightfuel panel installation can produce up to 2,600 kg of hydrogen. For electricity storage, Lightfuel technology reduces power storage and time-shifting costs to $0.08/kWh. In industrial applications, Lightfuel enables green hydrogen production for semiconductor processing, glass annealing, low-carbon steel heating, and other industrial processes.
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