​ Another new way to store hydrogen for energy

 

Carsten Streb, a researcher at Ulm University along with a multidisciplinary team of researchers have produced a novel new molecule that can be used to allow hydrogen to be made from solar energy on demand. They have developed a photosensitizer–polyoxometalate dyad that changes from clear to a dark, inky blue in the presence of light and in the process captures hydrogen. When you want to release the hydrogen, you just add an acid, like the sulphuric acid. The hydrogen that’s released can then be used to power something. Unlike most molecules that degrade in sunlight the half-life of this molecule is about 40 hours. Once discharged the molecule needs to be reformed and at the moment the research does not cover how to recycle the molecule easily. The molecule can be charged and discharged multiple times, but there is some level of degradation that occurs with it. It’s still too early to say how useful this molecule could be but this is a promising line of research.



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