Soon you would see the abundantly found sand powering your gadgets and providing hydrogen supply for emergency purposes. An Oxford University research team led by chemist John Foord has devised a method to produce hydrogen fuel from a mixture of silicon and water that could power future cell vehicles too.
Avoiding the general mistake committed by others before, i.e. to combine silicon and water under normal conditions that results into an abrupt discontinuation of the chemical reaction, the team ground silica into silicon nanopowder through a newly developed method. Next, they made this nanopowder to react with water, at temperatures between 70 and 90 degrees Celsius, to generate hydrogen. The method secretes sand as the only byproduct. The group also developed a material to envelope the silicon nanopowder particles so that they do not react to the least amount of water in the air.
University’s spin-out company Isis Innovation will seek to commercialize Foord’s work.
Via: The Engineer