Advancement in Catalysts
Oregon State University research into the design of catalysts has shown that hydrogen can be cleanly produced with much greater efficiency and at a lower cost than is possible with current commercially available catalysts. A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change. The findings are significant because the production of hydrogen is important for "many aspects of our life, such as fuel cells for cars and the manufacture of many useful chemicals such as ammonia," said the OSU College of Engineering's Zhenxing Feng, a chemical engineering professor who led the research. "It's also used in the refining of metals, for producing human-made materials such as plastics and for a range of other purposes." Producing hydrogen by splitting water via an electrochemical catalytic process is cleaner and more sustainable than the conventional method of deriving hydrogen fro...
