How does microbial life manage to survive in subglacial environments over millions of years? New research from the University of Bristol has found that the grinding of bedrock by glaciers and ice sheets produces a continual supply of hydrogen gas, a ready source of energy ('food') for many microbes. This hydrogen is most likely formed when the highly reactive surfaces of freshly fractured silicate minerals react with and split water.
Between a rock and a hard place: how life survives under a glacier
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Microbes map path toward renewable energy future
In the quest for renewable fuels, scientists are taking lessons from a humble bacterium that fills our oceans and covers moist surfaces the world over. While the organism captures light to make food in a process called photosynthesis, scientists have found that it simultaneously uses the energy from that captured light to produce hydrogen.
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'Hydricity' concept uses solar energy to produce power round-the-clock
Researchers are proposing a new "hydricity" concept aimed at creating a sustainable economy by not only generating electricity with solar energy but also producing and storing hydrogen from superheated water for round-the-clock power production.
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Scientists create 'nano-reactor' for the production of hydrogen biofuel
Scientists at Indiana University have created a highly efficient biomaterial that catalyzes the formation of hydrogen—one half of the "holy grail" of splitting H2O to make hydrogen and oxygen for fueling cheap and efficient cars that run on water.
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'Electronic nose' determines food freshness
A new device analyzes gas mixtures using semiconductor sensors. Odor is determined by a combination of existing gases in the atmosphere. Researchers have found that the conductivity of a semiconductor probe changes during sedimentation of the gas molecules from the atmosphere, which indicates their presence, says Timur Muksunov. During manufacture, the sensor can be customized to react differently to various atmospheric gases.
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Ferrite boosting photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
Photocatalytic hydrogen generation via water splitting has become a hot spot in the field of energy and materials. The goal of this technique is to construct cheap and efficient photocatalytic water splitting systems at an industrial scale, which first need us to search and develop efficient photocatalysts and suitable reductive/oxidative cocatalysts.
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Carbon leads the way in clean energy
Groundbreaking research at Griffith University is leading the way in clean energy, with the use of carbon as a way to deliver energy using hydrogen.
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Researchers move one step closer to sustainable hydrogen production
Splitting water into its hydrogen and oxygen parts may sound like science fiction, but it's the end goal of chemists and chemical engineers like Christopher Murray of the University of Pennsylvania and Matteo Cargnello of Stanford University.
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Catalyst produces hydrogen through steam reforming of biomass-derived ethylene glycol
Hydrogen production through steam reforming biomass-derived compounds is an economically feasible and environmentally benign way to efficiently use renewable energy resources. A study by scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory compared the hydrogen yield achieved by several different metal catalysts used for steam reforming ethylene glycol. The findings show a cobalt catalyst had a much higher hydrogen yield than rhodium or nickel catalysts, making it a promising catalyst for steam reforming ethylene glycol for hydrogen production.
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Electricity from seawater: New method efficiently produces hydrogen peroxide for fuel cells
(Phys.org)—Scientists have used sunlight to turn seawater (H2O) into hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which can then be used in fuel cells to generate electricity. It is the first photocatalytic method of H2O2 production that achieves a high enough efficiency so that the H2O2 can be used in a fuel cell.
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Towards eco-friendly industrial-scale hydrogen production
What if industrial waste water could become fuel? With affordable, long-lasting catalysts, water could be split to produce hydrogen that could be used to power fuel cells or combustion engines. By conducting complex simulations, scientists showed that adding lithium to aluminum nanoparticles results in orders-of-magnitude faster water-splitting reactions and higher hydrogen production rates compared to pure aluminum nanoparticles. The lithium allowed all the aluminum atoms to react, which increased yields.
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New catalyst for hydrogen production
With the aid of platinum catalysts, it is possible to efficiently produce hydrogen. However, this metal is rare and expensive. Researchers have discovered an alternative that is just as good, but less costly.
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Harnessing algae for the creation of clean energy
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have revealed how microalgae produce hydrogen, a clean fuel of the future, and suggest a possible mechanism to jumpstart mass production of this environmentally-friendly energy source. Their results have been published in back-to-back studies in Plant Physiology and Biotechnology for Biofuels.
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Improved water splitting advances renewable energy conversion
Washington State University researchers have found a way to more efficiently create hydrogen from water - an important key in making renewable energy production and storage viable.
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New approach to water splitting could improve hydrogen production
A team of researchers from Missouri University of Science and Technology and National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece have demonstrated a more efficient, less cost-prohibitive way to split water into its elements of hydrogen and oxygen. Their approach could make hydrogen fuel a more viable energy source in the future while addressing the technological challenge of developing clean and renewable energy without depleting earth's natural preserves.
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Safe and inexpensive hydrogen production as a future energy source
Hydrogen gas is a promising alternative energy source to overcome our reliance on carbon-based fuels, and has the benefit of producing only water when it is reacted with oxygen. However, hydrogen is highly reactive and flammable, so it requires careful handling and storage. Typical hydrogen storage materials are limited by factors like water sensitivity, risk of explosion, difficulty of control of hydrogen-generation. Hydrogen gas can be produced efficiently from organosilanes, some of which are suitably air-stable, non-toxic, and cheap. Catalysts that can efficiently produce hydrogen from organosilanes are therefore desired with the ultimate goal of realizing safe, inexpensive hydrogen production in high yield. Ideally, the catalyst should also operate at room temperature under aerobic conditions without the need for additional energy input.
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'Battolyser' technology combines electricity storage and hydrogen production in a single system
For the first time, TU Delft researchers led by Prof. Fokko Mulder have produced an integrated battery electrolysis system – known as a 'battolyser' – that can not only store or supply electricity efficiently as a battery but can also split water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis. This week the first article about it was published Energy & Environmental Science, and a research programme has been awarded funding by the Technology Foundation STW with the support of several companies.
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Controlling electron spin makes water splitting more efficient
One of the main obstacles in the production of hydrogen through water splitting is that hydrogen peroxide is also formed, which affects the efficiency stability of the reaction and the stability of the production. Dutch and Israeli researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and the Weizmann Institute have succeeded in controlling the spin of electrons in the reaction and thereby almost fully suppress the production of hydrogen peroxide. They published these findings this week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The efficient production of hydrogen paves the way towards water splitting by solar energy.
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Molybdenum-coated catalyst splits water for hydrogen production more efficiently
Hydrogen is one of the most promising clean fuels for use in cars, houses and portable generators. When produced from water using renewable energy resources, it is also a sustainable fuel with no carbon footprint.
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Lab-scale technology recycles wastewater into hydrogen for use in fuel production
"Electrical" bacteria are the key ingredient in a new process developed by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory that recycles wastewater from biofuel production to generate hydrogen. The hydrogen can then be used to convert bio-oil into higher grade liquid fuels such as gasoline or diesel.
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