JERUSALEM: Can water be split to produce environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel in the same way that atomic nuclei can be split to produce energy? Currently, there are two disadvantages to doing this: it takes a lot of time and energy.
But now, scientists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba have chosen a different course.
Professor Eric Yochelis of the BGU's Department of Environmental Physics and Avner Rothschild of the Department of Materials Science believe they have discovered new pathways that will speed up the catalytic process, which they believe will be used The costs associated with electrical energy will be significantly reduced.
Also Read: Cardinal in France claims to have abused a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago
Their process of splitting is aided by solar energy, or photoelectrochemistry, as it is known in science, which reduces the amount of electrical energy needed to break chemical bonds in a water molecule to produce hydrogen and oxygen. .
Oxygen evolution involves the transfer of four electrons to link one oxygen molecule and two hydrogen molecules to form water, usually the process of forming molecular oxygen (O2) by a chemical reaction with water.
Through oxygenic photosynthesis, which involves the thermal decomposition of various oxides and the electrolysis of water, oxygen is evolved from water.
The biological process that makes aerobic life possible. When relatively pure oxygen is needed for industrial purposes, liquefied air is distilled to obtain it.
The current model predicts that these electrons move sequentially in a series of four steps to the nuclear reaction site, which makes the chemical reaction energetically challenging.
However, Yochelis and Rothschild demonstrated a new paradigm where two electrons can be transferred to different reaction sites simultaneously, theoretically and experimentally lowering the energy barriers for oxygen evolution. They were initially frustrated by experiments that did not conform to the accepted paradigm, so they sought a different approach.
Parallel water photo-oxidation reaction pathways in hematite photonodes: implications for solar fuel production is the title of their study, which was published in Energy and Environmental Science, the top peer-reviewed journal in the sustainability field.
The Ministry of Science and Technology funded the study, which was carried out primarily by Technion doctoral student Anton Tsyganok and postdoctoral fellow Dr Paulino Monroe-Castillero (BGU).
Also Read: Why did R Ashwin start smelling clothes on the field? Video spreading rapidly on social media
According to Professor Rothschild, from Technion's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, "Our research changes the common understanding within the scientific community about the catalytic mechanism of oxygen evolution – an important and important reaction that represents a barrier to the production of hydrogen from water." Is. "
We showed that the catalytic reaction is more complex than people would expect by combining knowledge and expertise from two different fields, he said. "We hope this new understanding will lead to further advances in the design of materials and new technologies to produce clean fuels from renewable sources to ease the transition to net-zero."
"In addition to the scientific contribution of the research, it is important to emphasize the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and collaboration when dealing with complex systems such as energy systems," said Professor Yokelis from BGU's Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at SDE.
Also Read: Rohit Sharma gets hit on arm during training, no serious injury caused
This would not have happened if two researchers with different perspectives had not been open-minded and engaged in productive communication. Such cooperation will always result in innovative solutions to difficult issues.