The Green Optimistic

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Trying to make hydrogen a viable fuel, economically and energetically, a team of researchers from Idaho National Laboratory splits water steam into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis, but from steam, and at a high temperature.

Scientists from the University of Sheffield, UK have demonstrated that some bacteria named Nostoc could be used to power our future hydrogen cars. Their research was published in the journal Bioinformatics, and it could have powerful green consequences for the environment.

A team of scientists from the Monash University, Australia, has designed a fuel cell which will be used in the latest generation of hybrid cars. Their fuel cells could make the vehicles more reliable and more cheap to build.

MIT researchers found out a way to create energy by mimicking the photosynthesis process that green plants acquire their energy from. Prof. Daniel G. Nocera and former MIT graduate student Alan F. Heyduk invented a hydrogen-producing compound. They also use a catalyst and small amounts of light.

Penn State researchers have found a cheaper method of producing hydrogen from water by the same old effect of electrolysis aided by the Sun’s rays. They do not use classic solar cells, because these are expensive, but made a nanotechnology-based solar cell, called photoelectrochemical diode, that is simplistically said on the bottom of the water holding recipe.

A company, named QuantumSphere, has designed a metal coating system made for electrolyzers, made out of nanoparticles of NiFe (Fero-Nickel, or in plain english, a combination between iron and nickel). This coating would cover the electrolyzers’ anode and cathode and increase the actual contact surface with water by over 1000 times!

As you already know, Earth’s ecosystems are in a closed-loop. Researchers from the University of Birmingham have created a closed loop hydrogen energy eco-system based on two types of bacteria and a twist of fuel cell technology. How did they do that?

A British company, ITM, has invented a device that does electrolysis and splits water into hydrogen. They even modified a Ford Focus to run on the hydrogen they make(basically no big deal, just a few adjustments to the top dead center of the pistons and a little chip tricking on the exhaust).