Article

2004-08-27 Down Under

Aussie scientist has new way to get hydrogen from sunlight

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Posted by mhw 2004-08-27 8:21:56 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Sounds essentially like a solar battery - storing solar energy in the form of hydrogen fuel. Presumably, the titanium oxide ceramics are more efficient solar collectors than the existing, terribly expensive, inefficient materials in use, in addition to the stated reason in the article that the ceramic in question is corrosion-resistant. Problem: titanium isn't particularly cheap on an industrial scale, and is in high demand in high-ticket industries like aeronautics and golf club manufacturing. (I wish I was joking about that last one.) Additional problem: hydrogen is volatile, and hard to store and transport.

Posted by Mitch H. 2004-08-27 8:48:15 AM|| [http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/] 2004-08-27 8:48:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Mitch, you should right press releases because the first half of your comment is clearer and more concise than the actual press release.

Posted by RJ Schwarz 2004-08-27 9:14:34 AM|| [http://politicaljunky.blogspot.com] 2004-08-27 9:14:34 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 I didn't know 'harnessing' power was a problem... I thought the real problem was distribution.

Posted by Rawsnacks 2004-08-27 9:30:27 AM|| 2004-08-27 9:30:27 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Mitch,
I didn't post this but back in early Aug there was a press release about a company that was working on a 'cheap' solar collector.

The link is: http://www.konarkatech.com/

they got some kind of award

Posted by mhw 2004-08-27 9:40:43 AM|| 2004-08-27 9:40:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 They're using the known toxic chemical dihydrogen monoxide?

Posted by gromky 2004-08-27 11:24:44 AM|| 2004-08-27 11:24:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 people die in that stuff!

Posted by Frank G 2004-08-27 11:27:54 AM|| 2004-08-27 11:27:54 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 ...high-ticket industries like aeronautics and golf club manufacturing. (I wish I was joking about that last one.)

FYI, ti bike frames run from $1,500 - 3,000.

Posted by Raj 2004-08-27 1:13:36 PM|| 2004-08-27 1:13:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Yeah, and laptop cases, and so on. I mentioned golf club manufacturing because the commodity analysis I used to fact-check myself before commenting was complaining that the golfer's craze for titanium materials was pricing alloys out of the car market. Strange world.

mhw: looks like Konarka is also using titanium dioxide, in this case as a doping agent in plastic film-cells. Amusingly enough, they're promising about 2/3rds the efficiency of old-fashioned silicon photovoltaics, with the pay-off being that the doped plastic cells will be more "versatile" and cheaper. That probably means a lower failure-rate, and a more flexable, durable material. The products being offered are portable chargers for consumer electronics - designed to be carried around folded and stuffed away, and then unfolded in the right conditions.

Posted by Mitch H. 2004-08-27 3:01:29 PM|| [http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/] 2004-08-27 3:01:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 a simple engineering exercise
sorta like fusion

Posted by Shipman 2004-08-27 6:12:26 PM|| 2004-08-27 6:12:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 I didn't know water was still considered an unlimited resource......

Posted by Anonymous6192 2004-08-27 8:59:20 PM|| 2004-08-27 8:59:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Titanium is also used for pigment in white automotive paint.

Posted by Super Hose 2004-08-28 3:08:15 AM|| 2004-08-28 3:08:15 AM|| Front Page Top

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