Everyone is familiar with water, and many people know that the chemical formula for water is H2O. Each molecule of water has one oxygen and two hydrogens present. Hydrogen is a great fuel and could go a long way to solving the worlds energy problems, and water is extremely abundant. Well, then what’s the problem?
The problem is that the two hydrogen atoms are very strongly connected to the oxygen atom in the water molecule; the molecule is very stable, and doesn’t give up its component parts very easily. A catalyst is needed: something that will greatly increase the rate at which the hydrogen and oxygen spolit off from the water. Enter a team of researchers from MIT, who published their results in the latest issue of the words finest scientific journal, Science. The key was to immerse the catalysts in an alkaline solution. Alkaline solutions are “basic”, meaning they’re similar to lye or laundry detergent; they’re the chemical opposite of acidic solutions. Under alkaline conditions, the catalysts generate hydrogen and oxygen rapidly when exposed to water.
Right now, the catalyst is in the form of a powder, but the researchers hope to eventually move to a thin leaf pattern. This will give them more insight into how, precisely, the reaction is taking place which will (in turn) lead to the development of new and more powerful catalysts.
As would be expected given a technology that promises practically unlimited hydrogen fuel and oxygen gas to breathe, many different parties are interested in the technology, including German Universities, the U.S. Depart of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Toyota Motor Corporation. I for one hope that this added level of oversight doesn’t slow down the progress of science but instead encourages it to involve into something truly remarkable.
The source for this article can be found at: J. Suntivich, K. J. May, H. A. Gasteiger, J. B. Goodenough, Y. Shao-Horn. ” A Perovskite Oxide Optimized for Oxygen Evolution Catalysis from Molecular Orbital Principles“ . Science , 2011; DOI: 10.1126/science.1212858.