A chance revelation-Molybdenum can be used to produce cost-effective hydrogen
April 17th, 2011 - 11:53 am ICT by ANIWashington, Apr 17 (ANI): A chance discovery has revealed that using a molybdenum- based catalyst can produce cost -effective hydrogen.
Producing hydrogen in a sustainable way has been a perennial challenge as the production cost is too high.
Now according to the new research a molybdenum-based catalyst can be used to produce hydrogen bubbles cheaply and at room temperature.
A team led by EPFL Professor Xile Hu including Daniel Merki, Stephane Fierro, Heron Vrubel made this discovery accidentally during an electrochemical experiment.
“It’s a perfect illustration of the famous serendipity principle in fundamental research”, said Hu.
“Thanks to this unexpected result, we’ve revealed a unique phenomenon”, he added.
An international patent based on this discovery has already been filed.
The discovery opens up some interesting possibilities for industrial applications such as in the area of solar energy storage.
The study has been published online in Chemical Science. (ANI)
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Tags: catalyst, chance discovery, chemical science, electrochemical, fierro, fundamental research, heron, hydrogen bubbles, illustration, industrial applications, international patent, molybdenum, phenomenon, producing hydrogen, revelation, room temperature, solar energy storage, stephane, unexpected result, vrubel