Solar-Powered Membrane Separates Water Into Hydrogen and Oxygen Without Exploding
17th March 2015
And ya gotta love that.
Author Nate Lewis and his colleagues at Caltech created a thin coating of nickel oxide that can be applied to semi-conductors made of silicon or other materials–a setup that acts like an artificial leaf, using sunlight to power the system. When introduced to water, one side of the ‘leaf’ oxidizes the water, releasing oxygen, while the other side gathers the hydrogen.
A membrane keeps the newly separated hydrogen and oxygen isolated from each other, which helps reduce the risk of explosion. If heat (or electricity) is added to a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen the results can be incredibly explosive, much more so than each gas on its own. Check out the differences in burning oxygen, hydrogen, and a mix of the two in the video below.
March 17th, 2015 at 23:41
…oxidizes the water…
Really?
Must be some sort of magic not covered in my chemistry classes. You can “oxidize” water into hydrogen peroxide.
March 18th, 2015 at 01:44
You’re expecting accuracy from a journalist? Foolish mortal….