Nature Points the way to a sustainable hydrogen economyFebruary 10, 2005"This is an exciting early step in developing a sustainable system for producing electricity from hydrogen" said Professor Chris Pickett (Associate Head of the Biological Chemistry Department at JIC). "In Nature iron-sulphur enzymes catalyse a range of important chemical reactions that industry can only do by using precious metal catalysts and/or high temperatures and pressures. Based on Nature's blueprint we are a step closer to building an iron-sulfur catalyst for reactions fundamental to a sustainable hydrogen economy". As a blueprint for their syntheses the JIC team used the known molecular structures of the catalytic centre - 'the H-cluster'- found in the iron-only hydrogenase enzyme from two bacteria (Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and Clostridium pasteurianum). Hydrogenases catalyse interconversion of protons, electrons and hydrogen at extraordinary high rates. Their colleagues in Italy and the US [3] used state-of-the-art computational and spectroscopic techniques to probe the properties of the artificial H-cluster. The synthetic cluster was found to catalyse the reduction of protons to hydrogen albeit with poor energy efficiency. Nevertheless, the researchers believe their discovery should provide a lead to new materials that could eventually replace platinum. John Innes Centre |
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| Related Hydrogen Current Events and Hydrogen News Articles WPI Researchers Take Aim at Hard-to-Treat Fungal Infections A team of researchers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park has developed a new model system to study fungal infections. Proton's party pals may alter its internal structure A recent experiment at the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has found that a proton's nearest neighbors in the nucleus of the atom may modify the proton's internal structure. Berkeley Researchers Take the Lead Out of Piezoelectrics There is good news for the global effort to reduce the amount of lead in the environment and for the growing array of technologies that rely upon the piezoelectric effect. Vibrations key to efficiency of green fluorescent protein University of California, Berkeley, chemists have discovered the secret to the success of a jellyfish protein whose green glow has made it the darling of biologists and the subject of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Earth's early ocean cooled more than a billion years earlier than thought: Stanford study The scalding-hot sea that supposedly covered the early Earth may in fact never have existed, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers who analyzed isotope ratios in 3.4 billion-year-old ocean floor rocks. UT Knoxville and ORNL researchers turn algae into high-temperature hydrogen source In the quest to make hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to power vehicles. Central Africa's tropical Congo Basin was arid, treeless in Late Jurassic The Congo Basin - with its massive, lush tropical rain forest - was far different 150 million to 200 million years ago. At that time Africa and South America were part of the single continent Gondwana. Engineers image nanostructure of a solid acid catalyst and boost its catalytic activity The catalytic processes that facilitate the production of many chemicals and fuels could become much more environmentally friendly thanks to a breakthrough achieved by researchers from Lehigh and Rice Universities. 'Dropouts' pinpoint earliest galaxies Astronomers, conducting the broadest survey to date of galaxies from about 800 million years after the Big Bang, have found 22 early galaxies and confirmed the age of one by its characteristic hydrogen signature at 787 million years post Big Bang. Computer predicts reactions between molecules and surfaces, with 'chemical precision' Good news for heterogeneous catalysis and the hydrogen economy: computers can now be used to make accurate predictions of the reactions of (hydrogen) molecules with surfaces. An international team of researchers, headed by Leiden theoretical chemist Geert-Jan Kroes, published on this subject this week in the journal Science. More Hydrogen Current Events and Hydrogen News Articles |
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