With oil prices sky rocketing by the day and the impending doom from global warming, the need for alternative energy is more important than ever. There are many types of alternative energy such as wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, and many more. One newer and underutilized source is hydrogen.

Hydrogen is a very simple element that only contains one proton and one electron. There are many advantages of using hydrogen because it has wide availability, and it is a 100% pollution-free waste product. The way that energy is produced from hydrogen is through natural gas and high temperature. There are also other less conventional means of producing energy from hydrogen through the process of hydrolysis. Hydrolysis uses electricity to split the hydrogen and oxygen in water. The only downside of hydrolysis is that there must be a very strong current (PEMEs) present in order for the splitting of water to occur. This makes it not so energy efficient.

A professor, Leroy Cronin, found a new technique to efficiently harvest the hydrogen from water molecule. He uses a redox mediator (a sponge) that soaks up additional electrons and acid after hydrolysis takes place. Afterward, platinum is exposed to the acid soaked mediator, and this releases additional hydrogen particles in the acid. This can actually be done in the absence of oxygen.

The result of Professor Cronins findings is that he can get nearly thirty times the amount of hydrogen with the same amount of catalyst as the leading PEME. This uses much lower currents than the normal PEME method allowing this process to occur in low wind/sunlight conditions. This hydrogen production has endless potential from energy storage to helping create fertilizer to help feed the worlds population.

Sources:

http://www.iflscience.com/chemistry/faster-better-hydrogen-production

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/electron

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proton