Mechanism of the sonochemical production of hydrogen

It has been long recognized that propagation of an ultrasonic wave in water results in hydrogen production. The chemical effects of ultrasound (sonochemistry) originate from acoustic cavitation, that is, the formation, growth and implosive collapse of microscopic bubbles in liquid irradiated by ultrasound wave. Enormous temperatures and pressures are generated within the bubbles at the collapse, making each bubble as a microreactor within which typical flame reactions occur. The combustion in the cavitation bubbles yield species such as OH, H, O, HO2 and others. Although H2 is the most molecular product of water sonolysis, the mechanism of its production is until now not understood and the most reported suggestions are controversial. In this paper, a comprehensive numerical work was carried out, for the first time, to explain the mechanism of ultrasound induced generation of H2 in water. Computer simulations of chemical reactions occurring inside a bubble oscillating in water irradiated by an ultrasonic wave have been performed for different conditions. A kinetics mechanism of 25 reversible chemical reactions was proposed for studying the internal bubble-chemistry. The numerical simulations have evidenced the formation of H2 as well as other products such as O2, H2O2, OH, H, HO2 and O in the bubble during implosion. In all cases, H2 was the main product formed in the bubbles at appreciable amount. Basing on the simulation results and using material balance for hydrogen in the gas and liquid phases, the production rate of H2 in each phase has been quantified. The conclusion was that the main source of H2 production during water sonolysis is the gas phase of the bubbles through the reaction H + OH ↔ H2 + O.