Electromagnetic simulation studies of microwave assisted heating for the processing of nanostructured iron oxide for solar driven water splitting

Microwave assisted preparation has been shown to improve the performance of hematite photoelectrodes for solar driven water splitting. To understand the microwave heating process further, the distribution of the electromagnetic (EM) fields within the material is analysed using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) EM software. The rate of the increase in temperature is calculated from the simulated EM field distributions. In order to validate the simulation results, the calculated temperatures were compared with the experimental temperatures obtained using a thermal imaging camera.

► Electric field distribution in microwave heating of materials is simulated. ► Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) is used as simulation tool. ► The simulations are validated by comparing the experimental and simulated ΔT/Δt. ► Simulation results found to be in good agreement with experimental measurements.