University of Alberta researchers have developed a new catalyst that could revolutionize how we generate power and purify water. When placed in any type of water and provided with a small amount of power, the catalyst produces hydrogen that can be fed into a fuel cell to generate electricity along with distilled water that is safe to drink.
University of Alberta researchers have developed a new catalyst that could revolutionize how we generate power and purify water. When placed in any type of water and provided with a small amount of power, the catalyst produces hydrogen that can be fed into a fuel cell to generate electricity along with distilled water that is safe to drink.
The catalyst was discovered almost entirely by chance when Robin Hamilton was creating an electrode for an undergraduate student working on a waste biomass upcycling project. He mixed up a combination of powders and allowed them to sit overnight in water, intending to finish the cell the following day. When he returned in the morning, the mixture was bubbling—a reaction that was extremely out of the ordinary.
„It ends up being that when you mix these two things together, they interact, they work together and hydrogen comes off. It floored us,“ says Hamilton, a senior research associate in the Department of Chemistry.
Hamilton consulted chemistry professors Jeff Stryker and Jonathan Veinot, sharing the unexpected discovery and drawing on their respective expertise. The team quickly realized they had something remarkable on their hands—the specific combination of powders could serve as a new type of catalyst.
The catalyst they created is made with material that is non-toxic and plentiful. It’s easy and inexpensive to produce, making it an affordable and accessible alternative to current catalysts on the market, which require materials that are expensive and in limited supply.
