But eventually… it all turned out to be a pipeline dream mostly because of two shortcomings: hydrogen is very expensive to store and make; from renewable sources at least.
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Water splitting is now done using electricity.
A research team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a new catalyst that is meant to make hydrogen fuel cells more efficient and less expensive. According to Jin, it’s the best non-noble metal catalyst and nearly on par with platinum, but while platinum is traded with nearly $1000 per ounce the cobalt catalyst is dirt cheap. With no residual waste being blown in the atmosphere and no carbon fuelling climate change, energy delivered by hydrogen would be cleaner. Oxidation-resistant noble metals, like platinum, that are utilized in water splitting units, are uncommon and costly – limiting hydrogen’s potential as various gasoline supply.
The advance emerges from a long line of research in Jin’s lab that has focused on the use of iron pyrite and other low-priced, abundant materials for energy transformation. Most catalysts that are used to draw hydrogen from water are made out of noble metals.
The team said that their new catalyst also works with sunlight-powered water-splitting devices.
Many researchers are looking to find a cheaper replacement for platinum, Jin says.
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The transition to a hydrogen-based economy just got one notch easier thanks to the discovery of a new catalysts by researchers with the University of Wisconsin. High costs were considered one of the major setbacks for hydrogen economy, but scientists think they can develop a cheap catalyst that will significantly reduce the costs for hydrogen fuel. “If you are able to sacrifice a bit of performance and are more concerned about the cost and scalability, you may use this new cobalt catalyst”. There’s always a tradeoff: If you want to build the best electrolyzer, you still want to use platinum. Jin and his students Miguel Cabán-Acevedo and Michael Stone discovered the new high-performance catalyst by replacing iron to make cobalt pyrite, and then added phosphorus. Irrespective of whether we imagine producing hydrogen direct from sunlight or using electricity, we need several square miles with appropriate devices to garner that quantum of hydrogen.
