Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe.
As the global energy sector faces unprecedented issues that have emerged from several wars around the world, hydrogen has emerged as a potential future energy resource. However, there has been a significant barrier preventing the hydrogen subsector from reaching its full potential for energy production.
How can flipping a water molecule change the energy game for good?
How hydrogen has been proven to be a building block for life
The hydrogen element has been widely recognised by science as an essential building block for life in the cosmos.
Through extensive studies, we now know that hydrogen acts like DNA glue, holding together the two strands of the DNA double helix. And hydrogen even formed the earliest stars in the universe after the Big Bang, among other elements, of course.
Some scientific theories suggest that hydrogen was the primary energy source for the very first cells on Earth.
And as the element can be found in great quantities around the world and universe, it is perfect for our collective energy needs. But the hydrogen energy industry is still in its infancy and has not had the time afforded to solar or wind power.
The green energy transition has been gaining momentum in recent years
The dark side of the oil industry has become too clear to ignore anymore.
With the war in Ukraine raging on, and Operation Epic Fury resulting in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where a third of the world’s oil passes through, the need to transition to the renewable energy sector has become paramount.
And in the clean energy sector, the alternatives for energy generation are plentiful, to say the least.
Revelations in solar panel technology have seen the subsector become the dominant clean energy resource across the international market. The wind power sector has also been making powering nations a breeze.
But one clean energy resource has long been overlooked due to the complexity of extracting it and using it to light up the world: hydrogen.
Green hydrogen is the best method to drastically reduce harmful carbon emissions from nearly every sector in the modern world. From cars that run on hydrogen to the element powering our homes, the possibilities are almost endless.
A new study, “Electrified interfacial oxygen-down water boosts efficient and durable electrolysis,” published in Nature, has found an answer to the barrier preventing hydrogen from becoming the energy resource of tomorrow.
New study finds a simple answer to our hydrogen problem
While the scientific and energy community await the energy from limitless nuclear fusion to power the world, this study has figured out what has been preventing hydrogen from becoming our next primary energy resource.
Electrolysis is the process used to separate hydrogen from oxygen in water.
But as science has progressed, we have not quite gotten to the bottom of why hydrogen is tricky to extract in efficient volumes, even through the electrolysis method that has emerged.
Flip it upside down, and reveal how hydrogen is the fuel of tomorrow
Researchers have recently found that hydrogen molecules need to do a 180 flip on the electrode surface before splitting. This explains the decades-long barrier that has hindered hydrogen electrolysis from becoming the world’s primary energy source.
The hydrogen molecules must do a physical flip like a tumbler in a gymnastics team before splitting from their oxygen kinfolk to produce energy.
By studying the mysterious and unexplained, we now understand how to make hydrogen production far cheaper, opening the door for new catalysts to be designed for hydrogen production in the not-too-distant future, if all goes according to plan, that is.
