This schematic shows the concept for sustainable hydrogen production. Electricity from renewable sources (solar, wind) is used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen (electrolysis). The hydrogen can then be used for as fuel, to help make fertilizer from ammonia, and in other industries. Credit: RIKEN
A new sustainable and practical method for producing hydrogen from water has been discovered by a team of researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan led by Ryuhei Nakamura. Unlike current methods, the new method does not require rare metals that are expensive or in short supply. Instead, hydrogen for fuel cells and agricultural fertilizers can now be produced using cobalt and manganese, two fairly common metals. The study was published in Nature…