New Materials found for Hydrogen & LEDs

Here are a couple interesting steps in research arenas:

In this article from Scientific American, two lines of research concerning Hydrogen Fuel Cells are discussed. Currently, platinum, an expensive precious metal, is required for both creating hydrogen and for retrieving electricity from hydrogen. Researches at MIT believe that cobalt and phosphorous added to water can replace platinum for electrolyzing hydrogen.

According to the story, "Inspiration for the new catalyst came from nature; Nocera studied the chain of processes that take place during photosynthesis, such as how plants use the energy from sunlight to rearrange water's chemical bonds."

On the other end of the equation, converting stored hydrogen back into electricity, researchers from Monash University in Australia are "developing new electrodes for fuel cells made from a special conducting polymer, that costs around $57 per counce." Platinum currectly costs nearly $1600 per ounce.

Likewise, in this article from Purdue University, researchers there claim to have found a way to make LED lights without using expensive sapphires. LEDs are as efficient as compact fluorescents and do not contain dangerous mercury. However, they have been relatively expensive to buy, largely, it seems, because sapphire has been required for their production. The researchers have found a way to adhere a lower cost substitute to a wafer of silicon.

Neither of these reports are at the market stage, and who knows what the time lag with be from discovery to production. The LED article posits reasonably priced LEDs within two years. Whatever the case, I think it's interesting to note that these discoveries are coming at a time when they are most needed. As if all you have to do is ask the right questions, and you begin to find much needed answers.