Researcher Publishes Breakthrough In Splitting Water

PhysOrg (5/16) reports, "An international team, of scientists, led by a team at Monash University has found the key to the hydrogen economy could come from a very simple mineral, commonly seen as a black stain on rocks." Professor Leone Spiccia from the School of Chemistry at Monash University explained this research represents their ultimate goal, the creation of "a cheap, efficient way to split water, powered by sunlight, which would open up production of hydrogen as a clean fuel, and leading to long-term solutions for our renewable energy crisis." Professor Spiccia explained that "The hardest part about turning water into fuel is splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, but the team at Monash seems to have uncovered the process, developing a water-splitting cell based on a manganese-based catalyst."

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