‘More efficient at converting water into energy’

Scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the University of California, Los Angeles, have achieved a “research breakthrough” that could make hydrogen fuel cells more viable, CU Boulder reported. 

The researchers were able to pinpoint “the active sites of tiny platinum-alloy catalysts, which are crucial for making fuel cells more efficient at converting water into energy,” the university said.

Hydrogen fuel cells are a method of producing clean energy that can be used in cars and in a variety of other applications. Fuel cells, by creating energy out of typically only hydrogen and oxygen, produce no planet-overheating air pollution while in use, making them a very attractive renewable energy source. 

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However, fuel cells have several drawbacks at present. For one, there is little infrastructure built out around them, meaning that even if you do have a hydrogen-powered car, you’re probably going to have a difficult time finding places to fuel it up. The cars and the fuel itself are also prohibitively expensive for the majority of people.

The researchers’ breakthrough could greatly improve the efficiency of fuel cells, helping to solve some of these issues. Their conclusions were published in the scientific journal Nature Catalysis.

The biggest drawback with hydrogen fuel cells, however, is that around 95% of the hydrogen fuel that is available is created using processes that are highly dependent on burning dirty energy (mainly methane, or “natural gas”), according to the World Resources Institute. Therefore, even though the cars produce no air pollution while in use, their overall environmental impact is likely still quite high.

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For hydrogen cars to be truly viable, scientists must develop more efficient and cost-effective processes for producing hydrogen fuel cleanly. Luckily, scientists are hard at work solving this problem as well. 

“Green hydrogen” is hydrogen fuel that is produced using renewable energy, which is doable but still expensive. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researchers have developed a method of producing an on-demand hydrogen fuel for ships using old soda cans, seawater, and caffeine. At Oregon State University, researchers are working on a method of creating clean hydrogen using sunlight to separate hydrogen from water.

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