Slashdot Mirror
Alloy Could Produce Hydrogen Fuel Using Sunlight
intellitech writes "Using state-of-the-art theoretical computations, a University of Kentucky-University of Louisville team demonstrated that an alloy formed by a 2 percent substitution of antimony (Sb) in gallium nitride (GaN) has the right electrical properties to enable solar light energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, a process known as photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. When the alloy is immersed in water and exposed to sunlight, the chemical bond between the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water is broken (abstract). Because pure hydrogen gas is not found in free abundance on Earth, it must be manufactured by unlocking it from other compounds. Thus, hydrogen is not considered an energy source, but rather an 'energy carrier.' Currently, it takes a large amount of electricity to generate hydrogen by water splitting. As a consequence, most of the hydrogen manufactured today is derived from non-renewable sources such as coal and natural gas. The team says the GaN-Sb alloy has the potential to convert solar energy into an economical, carbon-free source for hydrogen."
How many of these are going anywhere years later?
Most aren't. Some are. That's pretty much the way R&D works: most projects fail, but the ones that succeed change our lives, generally for the better. If you're not interested in hearing about the early stages, when success or failure is impossible to predict, that's fine; no one's making you read those stories.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Imagine you're stuck in the desert with a bottle of water... you have to take a pick whether you drink your water or pour it in your car
Easy answer really. Drink your water and pee on your car.
Social justice means recognizing that all men were not born with equal opportunity.
Nope, "social justice" is a propaganda term used to rationalize looting. Justice, or the lack thereof, only pertains to an individual, not to whatever categories you seek to divide people into.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Exactly as much energy as you get back by complete combustion of the octane, divided by the efficiency of the conversion. See 'Fischer-Tropsch' process.
This is basically what you do if you want oil and you don't want go to Mother Nature's Giant One-Time Only Sale (All coal and oil accumulated over the last 500000000 years is old inventory and must go now! This is a one-time offer, bound to end within 200 years of starting! Don't miss out! Extra discounts available for first 50% of supply, for details please inquire within. No warranty is implied; Buyer takes full responsibility for any mass extinctions, polar meltdowns, or disastrous climactic shifts resulting from use of product. No returns accepted, all sales are final.).