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Posted: May 15, 2012

HyperSolar's Nanotechnology Can Use Any Source of Water and Sunlight to Produce Renewable Hydrogen

(Nanowerk News) HyperSolar, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to produce renewable hydrogen using water and sunlight, today announced that recent development breakthroughs will allow its technology to use most any source of water for the production of renewable and carbon-free hydrogen fuel. By eliminating the need for clean water, the company is able to reduce the cost of renewable hydrogen.
Conventional electrolysis of water uses electrical voltage to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Theoretically, this technology can be used to produce clean and renewable hydrogen fuel to power a carbon-free world. However, in practice, current commercial electrolysis technologies require the use of highly purified water to prevent fouling of system components.. The required added steps to purify water is among the major barriers to reducing the cost required for mass adoption of water-splitting technology for hydrogen production.
HyperSolar's nanotechnology approach is designed from the ground up to optimize solar electrolysis of water at the nanolevel to achieve high efficiency and low cost. Tim Young, CEO of HyperSolar, commented, "Recently, we successfully developed an inexpensive coating for our water-splitting nanoparticles that protects the particles from photocorrosion and common water impurities. Additional laboratory tests and technical development reveal that this coating can also protect the nanoparticles when submerged directly in harsh water conditions such as lake water, wastewater, and seawater."
Young continued, "The implications of our technology may be world changing. If we can successfully complete the development of a low-cost, highly efficient solar-powered water-splitting nanoparticle, we can use readily available seawater, runoff water, river water, or wastewater to produce large quantities of hydrogen fuel to power the world. When the hydrogen fuel is used in fuel cells or combustion, clean water (pure H2O) returns back to the Earth. HyperSolar is making steady technical progress to enable this vision."
About HyperSolar, Inc.
Source: HyperSolar (press release)
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