Researchers at UCLA have developed a device that has the potential to make hydrogen-fuel vehicles more economical.
The device uses solar power to create and store energy.
It can produce hydrogen using cobalt, iron, and nickel, according to a study published in the journal Energy Storage Materials.
Currently, hydrogen fuel is produced using platinum and other precious metals that are much more expensive.
Hydrogen is a green fuel because all it produces is water, but the environmental benefits are negated unless the hydrogen can be produced with renewable fuels, study co-author Maher El-Kady said. The device uses an electrode for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Previously, the only way to produce hydrogen was by converting fossil fuels, a method that produces a large amount of carbon dioxide. Approximately 95 percent of the world’s hydrogen supply is manufactured using this method.
“For hydrogen cars to be widely used, there remains a need for a technology that safely stores large quantities of hydrogen at normal pressure and temperature, instead of the pressurized cylinders that are currently in use,” Mir Mousavi, co-author of the study and a professor of chemistry at Iran’s Tarbiat Modares University, said.
The device stores energy chemically as hydrogen or electrochemically in its supercapacitor.