Hydrogen gas used for energy storage can be created 100 times faster using a new synthetic catalyst, researchers have discovered.

The nickel-based catalyst is capable of working ten times faster than proteins found in water-dwelling microbes, producing around 100,000 molecules of hydrogen gas every second.

Researchers hope that the findings, which are published in the journal Science, will inform future development of catalysts for energy storage.

In its current form, the new process uses too much energy to make it viable for commercial use, but scientists are hopeful they can learn more about controlling the reactions in the process for future applications.

The addition of water pushed the catalyst process into record breaking territory, during tests.

Without water, the trimmed catalyst was capable of producing hydrogen gas at a rate of 33,000 molecules per second - three times faster than through natural inspiration.

However, with the addition of water, the catalyst created molecules at a rate of 100,000 per second.

Study co-author Morris Bullock, of the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said: "This nickel-based catalyst is really very fast.

"It's about a hundred times faster than the previous catalyst record holder. And from nature, we knew it could be done with abundant and inexpensive nickel or iron."

Researchers are interested in storing energy in chemical bonds because they are capable of closer packing than alternative electron storage, such as in batteries. "We want to store energy as densely as possible. Chemical bonds can store a huge amount of energy in a small amount of physical space," explained Mr Bullock.

Source:

Cheap and fast hydrogen for fuel (08/08/11)

Catalyst that makes hydrogen gas breaks speed record (11/08/11)
 

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