Molybdenum Based Catalyst for Cheap Hydrogen Production

Sometimes when you’re working in a science lab doing research you come up with unexpected and undesired consequences. Yet every once in a blue moon those undesired consequences turn out to be quite desirable. According to the press release, “Existing in large quantities on Earth, water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. It can be […]

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Hydrail Economics: Consider the Alternative

by guest blogger Stan Thompson When asked “How’s your wife?” Henny Youngman famously quipped, “Compared to what?” Lately I’ve been conflicted by the flurry of interest in High Speed Rail and the several states whose governors have “just said ‘no thank you.’”  My hunch is that they may have made the right call for the […]

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Tata and MIT Professor to Develop Artificial Leaf for Hydrogen

The Tata Group out of India and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor of chemistry Daniel Nocera have signed a deal to develop a commercial version of the artificial leaf to produce hydrogen from sunlight and water. In April 2010, I had talked about the MIT invention to use a solar panel and the M13 […]

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Hydrogen Nanogenerator Developed Using Nanogels

University of Tokyo researchers have developed photosensitive nanogels that are made into hydrogen nanogenerators. Researcher Kosuke Okeyoshi explains, “We have designed photoinduced hydrogen nanogenerators and fabricated them by a novel nanointegration method that uses nanogel as sensitizer and nanoparticles as catalyst. The nanogels involve a photoinduced electronic transmission circuit to realize a smart photoenergy-converting system.” […]

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Biodiesel Byproduct Glycerol Can Be Used to Make Hydrogen

Creation of biodiesel, ethanol and other biofuels has not come without criticism. One of the criticisms of making biodiesel fuel has been what to do with the byproduct glycerol that is produced in massive amounts. Researchers at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN have come up with a unique solution which is to convert […]

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Cella Energy Uses Coaxial Electrospinning to Create Low Cost H2

I’ve talked about the merits of using ammonia borane several times in the past as a hydrogen-rich chemical compound that may one day be used to refuel H2 cars. Now, a company called Cella Energy is using ammonia borane (NH3BH3) plus a process called coaxial electrospinning or electrospraying to either supply pure hydrogen to fuel […]

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Self-Cleaning Oven plus Magnifying Glass to Produce Hydrogen

The chemical engineers at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California, which is also the academic home to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), have been doing a little home cooking recently to produce hydrogen. In fact, what the engineers have developed is a modified self-cleaning over with an intense magnifying glass that uses solar […]

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