Hu's electrolysis device
Like the recent discovery in electrolysis and fuel cells, yet another group has made a major discovery in the hydrogen production game. Professor Xile Hu of French school EPFL.LSCI and his team have discovered a more inexpensive catalyst to aid in the production of hydrogen from water. Currently, the electrolysis process of water in sped up with the aid of platinum. Hu and team, by chance, found that a Molybdenum Sulfide film works as the best known non-precious catalyst for electrolysis. Due to the first-to-file patent laws, the team has just registered the innovation despite one fact. Xile Hu explains, "Thanks to this unexpected result, we’ve revealed a unique phenomenon, But we don’t yet know exactly why the catalysts are so efficient.” The team seeks to better understand the observed phenomenon.
Models of Harvard's Platinum Free Catalyst
Combined with something like Harvard University's all-ceramic thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell, doing away with the biggest hurdle in hydrogen adoption will be traversed. However, Harvard's fuel cell is set up to work with methane. In particular, in place of platinum, solid oxide lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite and yttria-stabilized zirconia are used. The key benefit is operating the fuel cell at about 300 C, as opposed to the conventional 800 C temperatures fuel cell build. The Harvard team is experiencing 5 mW/cm2 in experiments at room temperature.
If all this research pays off, hydrogen vehicles will be immediately adopted globally. Keep in mind, bottle water it going up in price too. Will we ever win?
Eavesdropper
pics via their respected schools
