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Harvesting hydrogen from nanogardens
Phys.org ^ | July 3, 2020 | by University of Amsterdam

Posted on 07/03/2020 2:44:20 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Ning Yan and co-workers grew their nanogardens on a cloth consisting of carbon fibers of around 10 micrometers in diameter, a common electrode material in the fuel cell and electrolyser industries. The gardening started with depositing a layer of "soil" by hydrothermally encapsulating the fibers with a dense layer of cobalt hydroxide. This layer increased the structural stability of the nanostructures. Through variation of the ion concentration and temperature, they were able to induce the "sprouting" of grass-like features that are strongly "rooted" in the soil.

These grasses have an average length of 1.5 mm and a thickness of around 100 nm. To add blossoms and leaves to the grassy features, the researchers applied an electrodeposition method. In a diluted solution, electrodeposition dominantly proceeds from the tip of the grass stem, where the small radius of curvature results in a higher space charge density. In more concentrated solutions, the electrodeposition mainly proceeds from the bottom of the stems. This results in the deposition of "leafy" features, which in fact are interwoven dendritic deposit structures.

After converting the cobalt hydroxide nanostructures to cobalt phosphide by means of phosphidation, the researchers evaluated their catalytic activity in a setting that adequately represented industrially relevant conditions. As it turned out, the performance of the catalyst in an acidic environment is among the best of today's superior non-precious metal catalysts for hydrogen evolution. Furthermore, in acidic as well as alkaline and neutral conditions, the flowery nanofeatures resulted in significantly larger turnover frequencies than the leafy features, particularly at higher overpotentials when hydrogen evolution is influenced by mass transport limitations. The researchers attribute this to the geometry of the nanofeatures where the flowers enable smoother unloading of hydrogen.

...[T]he researchers showed that their nanogardens not only catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction but also the oxygen evolution.

(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: catalysis; harvesting; hydrogen; nanogardens; phosphidation

1 posted on 07/03/2020 2:44:21 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: SunkenCiv
The researchers were able to render the nanostructures catalytically active by a simple phosphidation procedure. The resulting cobalt phosphide nanostructures display bifunctional catalytic activity in electrolytic water splitting...


2 posted on 07/03/2020 2:46:51 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin
Let's put the CHOPper / CHAZzers in charge of the hydrogen nanogardens. They have proved their capabilities and skills.


3 posted on 07/03/2020 2:47:19 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: BenLurkin

Did you miss the keyword there? It is “simple.” Duh!


4 posted on 07/03/2020 2:47:57 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: BenLurkin

Cool.


5 posted on 07/03/2020 2:49:55 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: BenLurkin
I can sympathize with your confusion. Some people just do better with numbers than with words. So here’s the experiment described mathematically.


6 posted on 07/03/2020 2:53:15 PM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: BenLurkin

Are they going to put these nano-structures on our cars so they can run on hydrogen?


7 posted on 07/03/2020 2:56:56 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Cultural Marxism is the cult of the Left waiting for the Mothership.)
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To: BenLurkin

8 posted on 07/03/2020 3:00:32 PM PDT by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: BenLurkin

Does the process serve to fill my hydrogen car fuel tank?


9 posted on 07/03/2020 3:11:00 PM PDT by citizen (Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars. A,ll the other genders you make up are from Uranus.)
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To: Leaning Right

Ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha.... ha


10 posted on 07/03/2020 3:16:53 PM PDT by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)
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To: jonrick46

Sheesh... leave it to modern society to complicate a relatively simple process.


11 posted on 07/03/2020 3:18:55 PM PDT by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)
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To: BenLurkin

Is this the same swamp gas that generates UFOs?


12 posted on 07/03/2020 3:59:04 PM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: mountainlion

So they made a Chia Pet?


13 posted on 07/03/2020 5:26:21 PM PDT by Deaf Smith (When a takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure)
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To: BenLurkin

together with co-workers from the School of Physics and Technology at Wuhan University, China.

Land of virus.


14 posted on 07/03/2020 7:44:37 PM PDT by sasquatch
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To: BenLurkin
Well, this outcome was so *obvious*. /jk

15 posted on 07/04/2020 12:01:52 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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