Splitting the sea: Turning ocean water into hydrogen fuel
Jun 12, 2013
http://phys.org/news/2013-06-sea-ocean-hydrogen-fuel.html
ACES researchers with the flexible water splitting polymer. From left:
Professor Gerry Swiegers, Professor David Officer, Associate Professor Jun Chen,
Professor Gordon Wallace and Dr Pawel Wagner.
(Phys.org) —University of Wollongong scientists have developed a novel way to turn sea water into hydrogen, for a sustainable and clean fuel source. Using this method, as little as five litres of sea water per day would produce enough hydrogen to power an average-sized home and an electric car for one day.
The research team at UOW's Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) have developed a light-assisted catalyst that requires less energy input to activate water oxidation, which is the first step in splitting water to produce hydrogen fuel.
A major limitation with current technologies is that the oxidation process needs a higher energy input, which rules out using abundant sea water because it produces poisonous chlorine gas...
..."The system we designed, including the materials, gives us the opportunity to design various devices and applications using sea water as a water-splitting source...
MORE:http://phys.org/news/2013-06-sea-ocean-hydrogen-fuel.html
Explore further: Water splitting: Plants provide blueprint for cheap hydrogen production
http://phys.org/news/2013-04-blueprint-cheap-hydrogen-production.html#inlRlv
(Phys.org) —The process by which plants convert energy from the sun's rays into chemical 'fuel' has inspired a new way of generating clean, cheap, renewable hydrogen power which could solve looming problems with the UK's energy infrastructure.
Hydrogen is a significant source of energy which can be burned to produce power with no negative impact on the environment, unlike power produced by burning fossil fuels. Hydrogen gas can be easily produced by splitting water into its constituent elements – hydrogen and oxygen...more>
Trivia: You can burn Hydrogen in your house and there's no need for a chimney. That means all of the energy is used. No toxic fumes- no need for exhaust.
Edit history
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
= new reply since forum marked as read