NTU scientists set up new lab to turn water into hydrogen fuel

Lynda Hong Ee Lyn Today Online 9 Feb 11;

SINGAPORE - Scientists from the Nanyang Technological University have set up a new laboratory - the first in Asia - that aims to turn water into hydrogen fuel.

According to the researchers, the development of this technology may help to bring down the cost of using solar energy here to nearly the same level as conventional energy sources.

The lab will use what is known as "artificial leaf" technology, inspired by the way leaves use sunlight to produce energy, NTU president-designate Bertil Andersson told reporters yesterday.

This will allow for the separation of water into hydrogen and oxygen. The solar energy can then be converted into hydrogen in large quantities in a clean and sustainable manner.

Current technology requires huge amounts of energy to draw small amounts of hydrogen from water, making it not commercially viable.

The lab will be jointly managed by NTU's School of Materials Science and Engineering and the Energy Research Institute @ NTU.

Instead of conventional solar cells, the lab is also testing if cheap substances like rust and titanium dioxide can efficiently capture solar energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. Such extraction technology is available now but the scientists want to go a step further - develop a cheaper method of extracting hydrogen from water.

Professor James Barber, visiting professor at NTU and a leading expert in this field, is working on the project together with about a dozen other researchers.

He said: "We can do this reaction right now. It's no problem. We can use platinum, or we can use very expensive semi-conductor materials. The challenge is to devise a technology which is cheap, and is robust."

NTU plans to deliver the prototype in three to five years. It hopes that such technology could make it more commercially viable to run hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road. Lynda Hong

NTU opens Asia's first solar fuels lab
Lynda Hong Channel NewsAsia 8 Feb 11;

SINGAPORE: Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) can now look forward to recreating an energy process that takes place in plants to produce hydrogen fuel from water and sunlight.

NTU's new Solar Fuels Lab, which is the first of its kind in Asia, was officially opened on Tuesday morning by NTU President Designate Professor Bertil Andersson, who is a pioneer in the "artificial leaf" technology.

Inspired by nature's ability to recreate an energy-producing process through photosynthesis, researchers at NTU will be working to find suitable combinations of chemical catalysts that can speed up the artificial photosynthesis process using minimal energy.

This will be used in a device which will be able to extract large amounts of hydrogen from water using sunlight.

Incoming NTU president Bertil Andersson said: "The leaf has chlorophyll that has a lot of protein molecules that may not be stable in an artificial system.

"So the [focus of the] research is [on finding] stable components in the technological system, in a technological machinery".

The new solar fuels laboratory at NTU aim to extract hydrogen fuel using solar energy.

And instead of conventional solar cell, the lab is testing if cheap substances like rust and titanium dioxide can efficiently capture solar energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.

NTU visiting professor James Barber said: "We can do this reaction right now. It's no problem. We can use platinum, or we can use very expensive semi-conductor materials.

"The challenge is to devise technology which is cheap, and is robust, and made of cheap materials".

Professor Barber is one of the few world-class experts to work on the project, which comprises about a dozen researchers from NTU, including professor Michael Gratzal, Dr Heinz Frei and Dr John Turner .

NTU said it plans to deliver the prototype in three to five years.

Current technology requires huge amounts of energy to draw minute amounts of hydrogen from water which makes it commercially unviable.

When perfected, this "artificial leaf" technology can reduce dependence on crude oil and help to ease problems caused by global warming and climate change.

-CNA/fa/wk

NTU Solar Fuels Lab gets $10m research grants
It will develop tech that uses sunlight to turn water into hydrogen
Linette Lim Business Times 9 Feb 11;

A SOLAR fuels lab - the first of its kind in Asia - has been established at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Set up with seed funding of $2 million, the Lab has already secured some $10 million in research grants.

It will develop an 'artificial leaf' technology that mimics the photosynthesis process of plants, using sunlight to turn water into hydrogen.

'We expect our first prototype in 3-5 years,' said NTU's president-designate Bertil Andersson, himself a pioneer of the 'artificial leaf' technology.

Widespread adoption of hydrogen - the most abundant element on the planet - as an energy source could help ease climate change problems caused by the burning of fossil fuels and crude oil.

However, large-scale production of the carbon-free fuel remains commercially unviable with current technology. The costly process requires huge amounts of energy just to draw minute amounts of hydrogen from water.

NTU said it is confident of achieving efficient and cost-effective production of hydrogen in large quantities.

Researchers will do this by finding 'suitable combinations of chemical catalysts that can speed up the artificial photosynthesis process using minimal energy'.

Speaking at the Lab's opening ceremony yesterday, Professor James Barber of Imperial College London - a key scientific advisor to the Lab - noted that the exploration of alternative energy sources is so important that it was mentioned by US President Barack Obama in his latest State of the Union address.

In his speech, Mr Obama also announced a Joint Centre for Artificial Photosynthesis.

NTU's Solar Fuels Lab will be jointly managed by the School of Materials Science and Engineering and the Energy Research Institute @ NTU.

Research in the Lab will be driven by a mixed team of international collaborators and NTU assistant professors Joachim Loo, Lydia Wong, Yang Zhao and Xue Can.

Other international collaborators include Professor Michael Gratzal of Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnic Federale de Lausanne, Dr Heinz Frei of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US and Dr John Turner from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory.