Research reports a highly efficient catalyst that enables an industrial reaction to produce hydrogen to be carried out at ambient temperature using only the power of sunlight. Hydrogen has generated a great deal of interest as a clean and efficient energy alternative to fossil fuels.
Scientists in Spain showed that gold nanoparticles supported on TiO2 could efficiently catalyse the water gas shift reaction, which converts carbon monoxide and water from steam reformation of methane into hydrogen and carbon dioxide, using light irradiation. The scientists tested a variety of TiO2 and CeO2 catalysts and showed that the TiO2/Au catalyst produced more than 10,500 µmol hydrogen per gram – more than twice the amount of the next most efficient catalyst.
New system based on protonated ceramic membranes produces hydrogen industrially
An international team involving the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), has developed a new electrified reactor to obtain hydrogen in a more sustainable and energy-efficient ... more
New, more sustainable catalyst developed for fine chemicals industry
A research group at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), has developed a process to obtain benzimidazoles, organic compounds widely used in the fine chemicals industry, in ... more
Improving the safety of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles
Researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), belonging to the CMT-Motores Térmicos research institute, are working on different national and international projects to improve the safety of lithium-ion batteries, the most currently used in electric vehicles. As pointed out ... more
A new way to decontaminate water and gas with a new 3D extra-large pore zeolite
An international team of researchers with the participation of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has created the most porous stable zeolite known to date, a new pure silica zeolite called ZEO-3. This zeolite was formed by an unprecedented topotactic condensation of a 1D silicate ... more
A research team with the participation of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has determined the crystalline structure of copper squarate, a metal-organic material. The scientists have discovered that, as in other materials of this type, it contains large empty channels that give i ... more
The saliva of the wax moth contains enzymes capable of degrading plastic
A team of CSIC researchers has discovered that the saliva of the wax moth degrades plastic, which could have numerous applications in the treatment or recycling of plastic waste. This team discovered in 2017 that this species of worm (the lepidopteran Galleria mellonella) is capable of brea ... more
