2 H2O --> H2 + O2
Science reported today that a group at MIT found a catalyst to oxidize water into O2 in neutral water and at room temperature, made of cheap, abundant cobalt phosphates. A couple other groups simultaneously report (in the same issue) that they've made (1) a cheap fuel cell catalyst that converts H2 into electricity and (2) a solid oxide fuel cell catalyst that allows fuel cells to operate at just above room temperature. It's a pretty big deal.
As anyone in the renewable energy business will tell you, the challenge for the future is not so much finding alternative ways of making energy so much as it is finding efficient ways of storing it. If the findings hold up, these three discoveries get us tantalizingly close to that goal, promising a much cleaner, more productive future ahead.
We've taken an obvious cue from nature in developing technologies that convert sunlight to energy. However, we still lack the capability to store this energy in the form of chemical bonds (much like plants do by making sugars) in a way that can be scaled up to the industrial scale to meet global energy demand. This water-oxidizing catalyst is a major breakthrough, since it puts us effectively one degree of separation away from taking the other end of this electrochemical cell and evolving H2 from water. To boot, H2 can soon be easily stored and converted into electricity with great efficiency, thanks to the other two studies. Holy cow!
This presents a curious dilemma, however. While I am excited about these developments, my role in "the good fight" is seeming to be called into question. Until today I was content to find a job promoting substantial, pragmatic, sustainable solutions to our highly industrialized problems, but now I just don't know anymore. All that seems to pale in comparison to the task of wrapping up these "loose ends" in the sunlight-to-hydrogen energy paradigm. The downside is that I think someone else will probably do it first. Where is the glory in being second?
More importantly, what do I want to do with my life?
As anyone in the renewable energy business will tell you, the challenge for the future is not so much finding alternative ways of making energy so much as it is finding efficient ways of storing it. If the findings hold up, these three discoveries get us tantalizingly close to that goal, promising a much cleaner, more productive future ahead.
We've taken an obvious cue from nature in developing technologies that convert sunlight to energy. However, we still lack the capability to store this energy in the form of chemical bonds (much like plants do by making sugars) in a way that can be scaled up to the industrial scale to meet global energy demand. This water-oxidizing catalyst is a major breakthrough, since it puts us effectively one degree of separation away from taking the other end of this electrochemical cell and evolving H2 from water. To boot, H2 can soon be easily stored and converted into electricity with great efficiency, thanks to the other two studies. Holy cow!
This presents a curious dilemma, however. While I am excited about these developments, my role in "the good fight" is seeming to be called into question. Until today I was content to find a job promoting substantial, pragmatic, sustainable solutions to our highly industrialized problems, but now I just don't know anymore. All that seems to pale in comparison to the task of wrapping up these "loose ends" in the sunlight-to-hydrogen energy paradigm. The downside is that I think someone else will probably do it first. Where is the glory in being second?
More importantly, what do I want to do with my life?