The path to sustainability and renewable energies is one of the main road maps for companies, especially in the motor vehicle sector. The latest finding made by researchers has been through nuclear fusion technology. It has been discovered that hydrogen can be generated from water and sunlight, as well as a new way to create ammonia sustainably. This results in the use of clean energy and the reduction of environmental pollution.
How to transport hydrogen
The trend towards using nitrogen as a clean energy source is increasing. However, it is an extremely expensive fuel and difficult to transport, which considerably reduces its attractiveness. The last few years have been devoted to the study of new ways of transporting hydrogen, since until now it has been an excessively expensive aspect. Alternative transport and storage methods have been considered through chemical intermediation. Ammonia is the most widely used, as it can be transported safely (unlike hydrogen in gas form). However, the separation of these elements requires high temperatures. In this way, it returns from being affordable to being expensive and polluting again for the amount of energy it requires.
New method
Researchers at Rice University, led by Professor Peter Nordlander, claim that the use of materials in industry is varied. Until now, ruthenium has been used to separate components from ammonia. To get away from this costly practice, they bet on the use of nanotechnology. By using copper and iron they managed to divide the elements. In this way they managed to convert the ammonia into a hydrogen carrier. But more importantly, it is an affordable and sustainable process.
But, how did they get it? Their intention was to manipulate the light waves in order to modify the electrons so that ammonia could be split into hydrogen and nitrogen without the need for high temperatures. For this, they aimed LED light at metal structures that have a single wavelength, to facilitate the process.Plasmonica is the result of combining nanostructures and light. It only works with metals such as copper, silver or gold. However, the researchers also introduced iron. Thus, under the LED light, it is copper that alters electrons to higher energies, and iron acts as a catalyst for faster reaction.
TIGRESS (Terascala Infrastructure for Innovative Research in Engineering and Science)
Emily Carter, Professor of Energy and Environment and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Applied and Computational Mathematics at Princeton, stated that “With quantum mechanics simulations we can determine the reaction steps that limit velocity”. This Rice University project has been made possible by Princeton University. Using TIGRESS, its high-performance computer system, it has been possible to calibrate precise parameters by means of a quantum mechanics simulator.
LEDs for Green Hydrogen
Although the process is in its early stages, researchers consider it scalable, so they are looking for sources that reduce costs and increase efficiency. As it is perfected, hydrogen can be extracted from ammonia using LED lights, without changing the temperature. According to Carter, “Hydrogen is ubiquitous in industry and will increasingly be used as a fuel as the world tries to decarbonize its energy sources”. However, the current technology generates CO2 emissions and is extremely expensive. That’s why he states that “… ] If carbon-free ammonia could be produced, for example by electrolytic reduction of nitrogen using decarbonized electricity, it could be transported, stored and possibly serve as a source of green hydrogen on demand [… ]”.
Research in this field attempts to anticipate the full introduction of hydrogen into our lives. However, the world turns so fast that it is almost impossible. We will have to give time to science to follow this path, and find increasingly sustainable solutions with zero CO2 emissions and affordable for companies.