Hydrogen technologies

Hydrogen gas is considered to be the ideal fuel for combating environmental degradation. However the biggest obstacle to hydrogen replacing petroleum as the world\'s primary source of energy is the high cost of cleanly producing this gas. The most cost-effective current method for producing H2 is to use nuclear energy -- but that has environmental issues. Likewise using solar power is not cost-effective and using wind power is limited to a few regions. To address this challenge researchers at the University of California Berkeley have developed a photosynthetic method for producing H2.

The research group of Dr. Craig Hill at Emory University has developed a robust catalyst that shows unprecedented selectivity activity and stability for the oxidation of water. These polyoxometalate-based catalysts contain an all-inorganic framework making them significantly more stable than previously studied systems. Importantly these complexes are trivial to assemble from non-precious metals and other earth-abundant elements in turn making their cost of production minimal.

Sweden's first mobile fuelling station for hydrogen.

Chemical sensors and switches for detecting hydrogen and palladium nanostructures and polyphenol films H2 have gained interest as an alternative fuel source. Its storage and detection are important for fuel cell applications where safety concerns arise because it is explosive above 4% volume in air. UofL researchers have demonstrated the combination of Pd electrodeposition and polyphenol electropolymerization at microgap electrode arrays for controlled H2 sensing and switching behavior.

As the price of fossil fuels increase with diminishing reserves biofuel production for transportation is seen as a viable alternative for current as well as future energy demands. Microbial biofuel generation from lignocellulosic plant materials holds great promise with H2 being regarded as the gold standard since only water vapor is emitted when burned. Although the potential exists for this to be an economically viable substitute several issues are still to be resolved. Lignocellulosic plant material contains cellulose hemicellulose and lignin.