Phys.org March 26, 2024 To understand the factors that promote bimetallic H–H coupling researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, subjected molecular iridium catalysts to undergo photoelectrochemical dihydrogen (H2) evolution via a bimolecular mechanism. Covalently tethered diiridium catalysts evolved H2 from neutral water faster than monometallic catalysts, even at lower overpotential. The unexpected origin of this improvement was non-covalent supramolecular self-assembly into nanoscale aggregates that efficiently harvested light and form H–H bonds. Monometallic catalysts containing long-chain alkane substituents leveraged the self-assembly to evolve H2 from neutral water at low overpotential and with rates close to the […]
Tag Archives: Hydrogen production
Synthesis of Clean Hydrogen Gas from Waste Plastic at Zero Net Cost
Science Daily September 14, 2023 Hydrogen gas is the primary storable fuel for pollution-free energy production, with over 90 million tonnes used globally per year. More than 95% of H2 is synthesized through metal-catalyzed steam methane reforming that produces 11 tonnes of CO2 per tonne H2. “Green H2” from water electrolysis using renewable energy evolves no CO2, but costs 2–3x more, making it presently economically unviable. Researchers at Rice University have demonstrated catalyst-free conversion of waste plastic into clean H2 along with high purity graphene. The scalable procedure evolved no CO2 when deconstructing polyolefins and produces H2 in purities up […]
Research creates hydrogen-producing living droplets, paving way for alternative future energy source
Phys.org November 25, 2020 Normally, algal cells fix carbon dioxide and produce oxygen by photosynthesis. An international team of researchers used sugary droplets packed with living algal cells to generate hydrogen, rather than oxygen, by photosynthesis. They trapped ten thousand or so algal cells in each droplet, which were then crammed together by osmotic compression. By burying the cells deep inside the droplets, oxygen levels fell to a level that switched on special enzymes called hydrogenases that hijacked the normal photosynthetic pathway to produce hydrogen. In this way, around a quarter of a million microbial factories, typically only one-tenth of […]
Russian scientists found an effective way to obtain fuel for hydrogen engines
EurekAlert February 20, 2020 Catalysts used for releasing hydrogen from an H2O molecule are made from platinum, or molybdenum which are expensive hence the output energy is expensive too. Researchers in Russia used thin films of molybdenum sulfide deposited on the surface of glassy carbon instead. In this case, the material consumption will be minimal, and the surface area of the catalyst will be the same as if it was completely made from molybdenum sulfide. They measured electrochemical characteristics which indicated that the differences in the achievable hydrogen evolution reactions performances of the films could be caused by their unique […]