A platinum electrode has been used to create hydrogen from water, using sunlight.

Researchers form the universities of Milan and Pavia in Italy have been working on the development and have created a cell that has two compartments filled with water, which are separated by an electrode made of platinum and titanium dioxide, the royal Society of Chemistry reports.

It is hoped the new technology could significantly advance the development of a hydrogen economy, by allowing for the simple and efficient creation of hydrogen.

Elena Selli, who led the research, explained that the new design of cell means that production of hydrogen and oxygen from water are kept separate, so that no purification techniques are required.

"Our results demonstrate that hydrogen production from water photocatalytic splitting should be regarded as a practically viable, extremely promising way for clean, low cost and environmentally friendly conversion of solar energy into chemical energy," she concluded.

Source:

Water splitting, 22/11/07
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemTech/Volume/2007/12/water_splitting.asp

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