The Japanese have found a way to produce "free" hydrogen Bashny.Net

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have created a cheap photocatalyst, which is under the influence of light can break down water into oxygen and hydrogen at room temperature. The new catalyst low efficiency, but this disadvantage is compensated by low cost and the possibility of easy scaling of generating capacity.




All that is necessary - to put the glass with a catalyst in the water under the bright light

Japanese catalyst consists of a mixture of two types of particles, which catalyze the conductive material deposited on glass.

The plate was sufficiently dipped in water and irradiated with light, such as sunlight, water began to cleavage on the catalyst surface. It does not require an external power supply - reaction takes place only at the expense of solar energy photons

. The conversion efficiency of solar energy into hydrogen is low: only 1, 1%. But sheets photocatalysts produced using screen printing cheap and easily scalable without loss of efficiency.

Simply put, you can make huge sheets and put them in the water under the glass, such as the well-lit surface of a lake or bay. This generating station will be for years to produce "free" hydrogen.



In Japan already produce hydrogen cars, it remains to find a cheap source of hydrogen

It should be noted that the Japanese company Toyota in 2015 launched its first production hydrogen car. If it is found abundant source of cheap hydrogen cars future gasoline and diesel engines will be a foregone conclusion for such machines. Even in today's hydrogen fuel cell efficiency above 80%, while the gasoline engines does not even reach 40%.