More hydrogen with new nanoparticles

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nano-initiative-munich.de/press/press-releases/meldung/n/more-hydrogen-with-new-nanoparticles/

[font face=Serif]Wednesday, 27 May, 2015

[font size=5]More hydrogen with new nanoparticles[/font]

[font size=4]Hydrogen is a very promising storage medium for electricity that is generated via renewable sources. NIM scientists have successfully synthesized iron-nickel oxide nanoparticles that allows for the hydrogen production process to be ten times more efficient than existing solutions.[/font]

[font size=3]The future of renewable energy is closely linked to how efficiently it is generated and then stored for future use. One promising storage medium is hydrogen. It is produced using conventional water sources and can be utilized as an energy source as needed. Its electrochemical preparation comprises two coupled reactions. In the first reaction, water is oxidized, producing oxygen and electrons. In the second reaction, these electrons reduce water resulting in the formation of hydrogen gas. If the electrons are supplied in a sufficient amount during this second step, this process proceeds smoothly. However, it is typically limited by the water oxidation step.

Currently, many scientists are investigating the so-called “catalysts materials” to facilitate this reaction. NIM chemists Prof. Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing and Prof. Thomas Bein (both LMU) have developed nanoparticles composed of nickel-iron oxide, which catalyze water oxidation process up to ten times more efficient than comparable compounds. Additionally, these particles are simple to synthesize, inexpensive to produce, and are universally applicable.

…

"The exceptionally high catalytic activity of our nanoparticles demonstrates the high impact of synthesis strategy and nanomorphology on the properties of resulting materials", explains Dina Fattakhova-Rohlfing. "Currently we work on the development of other nanocatalysts. In addition to the small particle size, most promising in this respect is boosting catalytic activity via the formation of defect-rich metastable phases on the nanoscale. Our main goal is to create even more efficient materials for various energy applications. "

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[phantom power]

1. I'm gonna rec this just because it correctly calls hydrogen a storage medium

instead of "energy source."

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. It actually uses both terms… (I feel your pain.)

… One promising storage medium is hydrogen. It is produced using conventional water sources and can be utilized as an energy source as needed. …

[kristopher]

3. But it prefaces that with "very promising" - which is more lie than not.

The more we learn about how to configure a distributed renewable energy system, the greater the reduction in the range of applications for which hydrogen storage offers net advantages over the various alternatives.The process is simply too inefficient to be consequential.

[phantom power]

4. Yes, well, decades of Bad Science Reporting(tm) have lowered my standards

I've never been a fan of hydrogen as fuel/storage. It has low energy density and it's hard to manage from a material science standpoint. There are better alternatives for pretty much any use case.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. How are you defining “low energy density?”

By volume, I assume…

By mass, it has very high energy density.

By volume, (compressed) hydrogen has much better energy density than a lithium ion battery.

[phantom power]

6. Yes, you have to compress it pretty hard, which causes its own engineering problems.

And being a very small, light, and reactive molecule, keeping it sealed requires special materials.

If I wanted to manufacture a fuel, I'd make something that can be stored in liquid form without a lot of effort. Propane, dimethyl ether, synthetic diesel, etc.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. “If I wanted to manufacture a fuel… Propane, dimethyl ether, synthetic diesel, etc.”

Yes, there are clear advantages to liquid fuels. That’s why we used them to power our vehicles, rather than batteries.

Once you’ve produced hydrogen, you can use it to produce liquid fuels.

Of course, if you want to use that fuel efficiently, you’ll want to use a fuel cell.