Category Technology/Electronics

Although it is simple in theory, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is a complex process, requiring two separate reactions — a hydrogen evolution reaction and an oxygen evolution reaction, each requiring a separate electrode.

Discovery could remove hurdle to producing hydrogen from water. University of Houston physicists have discovered a catalyst that can split water into hydrogen and oxygen, composed of easily available, low-cost materials and operating far more efficiently than previous catalysts. That would solve one of the primary hurdles remaining in using water to produce hydrogen. The catalyst, composed of ferrous metaphosphate grown on a conductive nickel foam platform, is far more efficient than previous catalysts, as well as less expensive to produce.

“Cost-wise, it is muc...

A custom chamber built by researchers at Rice University allowed them to refine their process for creating laser-induced graphene. Credit: Courtesy of the Tour Group

Rice University scientists who invented laser-induced graphene (LIG) for applications like supercapacitors have now figured out a way to make the spongy graphene either superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic. Until recently, the Rice lab of James Tour made LIG only in open air, using a laser to burn part of the way through a flexible polyimide sheet to get interconnected flakes of graphene. But putting the polymer in a closed environment with various gases changed the product’s properties. Forming LIG in argon or hydrogen makes it superhydrophobic, a property highly valued for separating water from oil or de-icing surfaces...

David Newman et al. Performance of a quantum heat engine at strong reservoir coupling, Physical Review E (2017). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.95.032139 

Research from The University of Manchester has thrown new light on the use of miniaturised ‘heat engines’ that could one day help power nanoscale machines like quantum computers. Heat engines are devices that turn thermal energy into a useful form known as ‘work’ which can provide power – like any other engine. Dr Ahsan Nazir wanted to see how heat engines performed at the quantum level. Heat engines at this scale could help power the miniaturised nanoscale machines of the future, such as components of quantum computers.

Dr Nazir’s research showed that heat engines were inclined to lose performance at the quantum scale due to the way such devi...

Particles are pulled out of a dispersion to form a ‘pearl necklace’, by applying an electric field through a needle-shaped electrode. Credit: Ming Han

Rozynek, a researcher at Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna, Poland, demonstrated something that looked almost like magic. When he poked a needle-shaped electrode into a mixture of micron-sized, spherical metal particles dispersed in silicone oil, a sphere stuck to its end. As Rozynek pulled the electrode out of the dispersion, another sphere attached to the first sphere, and then another to the second sphere, and so on, until a long chain formed. “The spheres behaved like magnetic beads, except no magnetism was involved,” said Prof. Luijten, NW McCormick School of Engineering. “The particles have no tendency to cluster...