Discover new ways to create water

During practice at a high school, an instructor used electricity to split liquid water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Then, combine these two gases, burn them and turn them back into water after a loud ' pop '.

Scientists at the University of Illinois have discovered a new way of producing water without producing a boom after a chemical reaction. They not only create water from the original ' utopian ' components, like alcohol, but their experiments only need better catalysts with cheaper fuel cells.

' We discovered that special metal hydrides can be used for oxygen depletion, which is a very important stage in the process of creating water, ' said Zachariah Heiden, a PhD student who is pursuing a doctorate and is also the leading author of a newspaper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and posted on the website of this journal.

A water molecule (commonly known as a mono-hydroxide) is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. But you can't simply carry two hydrogen atoms attached to an oxygen atom. To produce water, the reaction is actually more complex: 2H ₂ + O ₂ = 2H ₂ O + Energy .

This equation means: to create two water molecules (H ₂ O), two hydrogen molecules (H ₂ ) must combine with an oxygen molecule (O ₂ ). Energy is released in this process.

'Reaction: 2H ₂ + O ₂ = 2H ₂ O + Energy was known two centuries ago, but until now no one has been able to make it in a homogeneous solution', Thomas Rauchfuss - Professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois and who received feedback from the newspaper revealed.

This famous formula also describes the evolution of hydrogen fuel cells.

Chemistry professor Thomas Rauchfuss (left) and student Zachariah Heiden have found new ways to create water.(Photo: L. Brian Stauffer, tfot.info)

In a typical fuel cell, the hydrogen gas molecule enters one end of the cell, the oxygen gas molecule enters the other end. Hydrogen molecules lose electrons and carry a positive charge through oxidation. Meanwhile, the oxygen molecule receives four electrons and carries a negative charge through the reduction process. Negatively charged oxygen ions combine with hydrogen ions to bring a positive charge to form water and release energy. The main difficulty of the fuel cell is the reduction of oxygen rather than the dehydrogenation reaction, the professor said: 'However, we discovered that the new catalyst that reacts to reducing oxygen can pave the way for a method of new learning for hydrogen reduction reaction. '

Professor Rauchfuss and Heiden recently introduced a new generation of hydrogen catalysts for hydrogen conversion that is used as a special metal hydride for oxygen reduction .

In their article on the American Chemistry specialization, they specifically focused on the oxidation reaction when there are iridium hydrogen conversion catalysts in a homogeneous, water-free solution. They found the complex effect of both the oxidation of alcohol and the reduction of oxygen.

Most compounds react with hydrogen or oxygen, but this catalyst works with both elements. Heiden said: 'It works with hydrogen to produce hydride, which then reacts with oxygen to create water; This process occurs in homogeneous solvents, without water. '

Heiden said, the new catalysts can produce more efficient hydrogen energy cells, which actually lower the cost of fuel.

The US Department of Energy has decided to fund this study.