Small steps toward big energy gains

Science News ^ | July 31st, 2008 | Davide Castelvecchi

[neverdem]

New studies with different fuel cell catalysts show promising results

As the automotive industry is betting that hydrogen can become the fuel of the future, technology is taking steps to bring that hope closer to reality. Three papers being published by the journal Science promise to fill some of the most significant gaps in what could someday be an environmentally friendly cycle of hydrogen production and consumption.

--snip--

Platinum is also commonly used on the consumption side, in the fuel cells that turn hydrogen back into water and produce electric currents. In Science‘s August 1 issue, researchers at Monash University in Australia propose replacing metal-based catalysts in the electrodes of hydrogen fuel cells with Gore-Tex membranes coated with an electrically conducting polymer.

--snip--

Also in Science’s August 1 issue, Jacobo Santamaría of the Complutense University in Madrid and his collaborators describe an advancement made on a different type of fuel cell called a solid oxide cell. Solid oxide cells typically use ceramic materials to transfer electricity between electrodes. They are among the most efficient fuel cells, but they only work at temperatures of 700° Celsius or more, which limits their applications. Now Santamaría’s team has created a new material that’s based on the ceramics’ same elements — zirconium, strontium and titanium — but has a more orderly, crystal structure. Alberto Rivera-Calzada, one of Santamaría’s colleagues, says the new material works at just 84° C.

[neverdem]

Multiple threads about the first study reported are here.

In Situ Formation of an Oxygen-Evolving Catalyst in Neutral Water Containing Phosphate and Co²⁺ Note the submission and acceptance dates. That's really quick.

High Rates of Oxygen Reduction over a Vapor Phase–Polymerized PEDOT Electrode

Colossal Ionic Conductivity at Interfaces of Epitaxial ZrO₂:Y₂O₃/SrTiO₃ Heterostructures

[Congressman Billybob]

Doesn't anyone pay attention to the laws? By that I mean the Laws of Thermodynamics? Step one: it takes energy to separate the hydrogen from oxygen in water molecules. Remember, water is H2O. Step two, in the car, is the combination of H2 and O back into water. But there are those pesky law of Thermodynamics in between. You CANNOT create energy, and in every use of energy, there is loss in the process. There is always a decrease in the energy. Bottom line: it takes more energy to produce that hydrogen than the energy produced by then burning it in the cars. WHERE IS THE ENERGY TO PRODUCE THE HYDROGEN COMING FROM? Sorry for shouting, but I was pretty good at physics and chemistry back then.

Congressman Billybob

Tenth in the ten-part series, "The Owner's Manual (Part 10) -- The Remaining Amendments"

Latest article, "A Scandinavian Skeleton in a Southern Closet"

[steve8714]

I think this is a way to store the energy from wind. Why not use a more reliable source, like the glow of Obama’s goodness and brilliance?

[chrisser]

Your point is well taken.

Knowing this, I prefer to keep quiet and let this technology progress.

Why? Because taken to its logical conclusion, the only way to power this brave new world of Hydrogen is nuclear.

If that’s what it takes to get nukes built, then I’m OK with that.

[Prokopton]

WHERE IS THE ENERGY TO PRODUCE THE HYDROGEN COMING FROM?

Stored in radioactive material.

[neverdem]

WHERE IS THE ENERGY TO PRODUCE THE HYDROGEN COMING FROM? Sorry for shouting, but I was pretty good at physics and chemistry back then.

From the free stuff - sunlight & wind. We need cheap energy from all sources to undermine our adversaries.

There is always a decrease in the energy.

There is always a decrease in the available, free energy. Remember energy cannot be created or destroyed, but a certain fraction is lost to entropy, courtesy of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

It's too bad that you gave up on a run for Congress. Most members of Congress are scientically illiterate and innumerate. Thanks for the links.

[steve-b]

Er, what's your point? Everybody already knows that the issue here is to provide a storage medium, not an energy source. You can't put a windmill or a nuclear reactor or a hydro plant or whatever under your hood, so the energy needs to be converted into something more portable.

[steve-b]

I think this is a way to store the energy from wind. Why not use a more reliable source, like the glow of Obama’s goodness and brilliance?

Snrk.

Seriously, though, an energy source for conversion to portable fuel form is one application where intermittent sources like windmills might actually make sense (at least, more sense than using them to run the power grid, which requires a constant baseload).

[neverdem]

Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C. IIRC, comment# 1 has a video link.

Researchers Look to Daily Pill to Avert H.I.V.

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[BIGLOOK]

Stop being so cynical, John...the New Messiah can turn water into....ahh....fuel. All it takes is Hope, Change and Gullibility. Add a little Chicanery and Political Machinery and Sha Zaam!

The products of the current public and infected private school systems will buy into anything, especially when there's a celebrity selling it. The Big o is counting on the youth vote to put him over the top.

[SunkenCiv]

This Is Clever
(McCain Campaign sends “Obama Energy Plan”-tire gauge for $25 donation)
The National Review ^ | August 04, 2008 | Kathryn Jean Lopez
Posted on 08/04/2008 12:13:01 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2056361/posts