Friday, June 23, 2006

Fantastic.... the major problem being tackled

The obstacles against a hydro-fuelled transportation industry are few but significant. For those who haven't been paying attention, they are:

-> The way hydrogen is made
-> The way it will be stored
-> The way it can be distributed

All three are seeing improvments but the first on the list, how this "magical" fuel is created, is a tough problem. QuantumSphere may have the answer:

"'Our water electrolysis research will ultimately enable us to leverage the Company's nanomaterials to produce cheap hydrogen using water and electricity. QuantumSphere's electrodes use QSI-Nano™ metals and alloys that are ten times less expensive when compared to platinum, offering an orders-of-magnitude increase in surface area (due to nano-scale size) to provide low cost, energy-efficient processes and materials to generate hydrogen,' Dr. Carpenter added.

"QuantumSphere's water electrolysis processes alleviate the dependence on platinum, deliver 80% cheaper electrodes with increased surface area and activity while reducing the electrical potential that resists the water splitting process."


For the layman... traditional electrolysis (sptlitting of water with electricity) requires a platinum catalyst (just something that starts the reaction). Platinum, as you all know, is pricy these days. QS has developed a new kind of metal to take it's place which is much cheaper. They also mention in the article that the electricity to power this reaction will come from renewable sources. SO NICE to hear a big industry player say that instead of following the nay-sayer sheep herd and bray about it being inefficient or impractical.

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