Argonne scientists home in on hydrogen collection technique

Argonne National Laboratory researchers are closing in on a technology to collect hydrogen cheaply so it could be used to power automobiles.

Fuel cell technology that converts hydrogen to electricity is a priority of the Bush administration. People at Argonne have been working for years to improve components to make mobile fuel cells practical.

Jon Van

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They have developed a ceramic device that separates hydrogen in a pure form from other elements in an extremely hot gas. Even though hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, getting ahold of it can be an expensive proposition.

"Just as conventional cars need gas stations, fuel cell cars will need an infrastructure to support them," said Balu Balachandran, a senior ceramics researcher at Argonne.

Argonne’s ceramic filters can separate hydrogen into its pure form more simply than most methods, Balachandran said.

The process envisions combining natural gas with oxygen to free up hydrogen as the oxygen joins with carbon to form carbon monoxide.

Electrically charged hydrogen would then move through the ceramic plate to be collected in a pure form. Components of the technology have been demonstrated in the lab, and a group of industry researchers now seeks to engineer a system that could work on an industrial scale, Balachandran said.

If the engineering challenges can be met, the technology could be ready for the market in five or six years, he said. The goal would be to install conversion equipment at fueling stations so that drivers could stop in and fill up with hydrogen as needed.

One drawback: Natural gas has become less plentiful in the United States, causing price fluctuations for people who use it to heat their homes. It may not prove the best choice as transportation’s future fuel.

Mussel mulling: Iron is a key ingredient in the glue used by saltwater mussels to affix themselves to rocks, which surprised scientists at Purdue University.

"These animals appear to use iron in a way that has never been seen before," said Jonathan Wilker, an assistant chemistry professor at Purdue who is leading a team that studies natural adhesives. "This is the first time a transition metal has been found to be essential for the formation of an amorphous biological material."

Wilker has been studying how mussels, barnacles and other water creatures adhere to surfaces. He got interested in that through scuba diving. Mussels can affix themselves to almost any surface, including Teflon, the material designed to be non-stick.

Wilker hopes that his research will lead to insights that may be useful to industry and medicine.

"This material’s ability to adhere to many surfaces and its biological origin may make it useful in medical applications," he said. "This glue could be modified for use in wound closure, nerve reconstruction, or one might need a scaffold upon which to grow cells and build new tissue.

Understanding better how nature’s adhesives work could lead to designs for surfaces that would resist adherence.

"We may be able to take parts of this glue and use them to make materials that have controlled electronic, magnetic or optical properties," Wilker said. "Mussel glues have provided insights into new aspects of materials design. This research lies at a point where chemistry, biology, engineering and materials science intersect."

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