A new way to produce hydrogen using microwaves

A team of researchers has discovered a new method that makes it possible to transform electricity into Hydrogen or chemical products solely using microwaves.

The team has discovered a new method that makes it possible to transform electricity into Hydrogen or chemical products solely using microwaves.

The team observed that when ionic materials were being treated with microwaves, the materials displayed unusual changes in their properties, especially their electronic conductivity, changes that did not happen when they were heated conventionally.

The team verified that microwaves interact with these materials by accelerating the electrons and giving way to the release of molecules of Oxygen from their structure. This change manifested itself specifically with sudden alterations to the conductivity at relatively low temperatures (approximately 300ºC). "This semi-balanced state is maintained while microwaves are applied, but tends to revert back by way of re-oxygenation (re-oxidation) when microwaves cease being applied.

The main use of this revolutionary technology is the production of green Hydrogen (produced without emitting greenhouse gasses) from water for industrial and transportation uses.

It is a technology with great potential for the automotive sector, specifically for cars fuelled by fuel cells and hybrids or large vehicles such as trains or ships. But also for the chemical industry, metallurgy, the ceramic sector or the production of fertilizers, among many other sectors.

Another use would be the direct generation of oxygen with microwaves, which opens a broad spectrum of new uses. One specific use would be the direct production of Oxygen with extra-terrestrial rocks, which could have a key role in the future exploration and colonization of the moon, Mars or other rock bodies of the solar system.