More Efficient Method of Electrolysis Developed by MIT Scientist to Produce Hydrogen. By Scott Malone, Reuters, July 31, 2008. "A U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night. A new catalyst produces the oxygen and hydrogen that fuel cells use to generate electricity, while using far less energy than current methods. With this catalyst, users could rely on electricity produced by photovoltaic solar cells to power the process that produces the fuel, said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who developed the new material. 'If you can only have energy when the sun is shining, you're in deep trouble. And that's why, in my opinion, photovoltaics haven't penetrated the market,' Daniel Nocera, an MIT professor of energy, said... 'If I could provide a storage mechanism, then I make energy 24/7 and then we can start talking about solar.'... Nocera's catalyst is made from cobalt, phosphate and an electrode that produces oxygen from water by using 90% less electricity than current methods, which use the costly metal platinum... Nocera has not tried to construct a full-sized version of the system, but suggested that the technologies to bring this into a typical home could be ready in less than a decade."
2008-08-05
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