For a long time, we humans are relying too much on fossil energy sources, especially oil. Therefore, scientists are constantly exploring to replace them with new sources of energy that are cleaner, safer and more sustainable.
Hydrogen raw material is the highly expected solution. However, previously, to produce hydrogen, people need rare metals like platinium and iridium. Therefore, the cost of generating hydrogen is too great.
But it will all become a thing of the past with new equipment made by experts from Stanford University. This is an electrolysis machine that separates hydrogen from water at extremely low cost. The materials that make up the device only include a nickel, iron and a 1.5V battery.
The device works continuously for 7 days without any problems!
The reason electrolysis equipment produces a lot of hydrogen is by the construction of two electrodes from nickel – iron oxide. The spread of particles into metal particles pressed together increases the contact area in the water of the poles. As a result, hydrogen is produced more and consumes less energy.
Chemical mechanism when electrolytic water
Yi Cui, a Stanford professor of materials science and engineering, commented, “This process creates very strongly connected microscopic particles, so the catalysts will have good and stable electrical conductivity. Moreover, the use of nickel and iron catalysts have more advantages because of low cost.
Haotian Wang, the owner of the invention, said that the electrolytic device is very stable, can maintain itself for 1 week with an efficiency of 82% at room temperature.