Singapore (Commonwealth Union) – Accidental discoveries have given us some of the most widely used products throughout history. Quite often while conducting research with the objective of looking for something specific, people have ended up discovering something completely unrelated, which brought us discoveries such as the microwave oven, plastic and the strikable match, among the many accidental discoveries.
Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) may become a new addition to accidental scientific discoveries that may possibly revolutionize the way water is split to release hydrogen gas, which is crucial for many industries.
Scientists, led by Associate Professor Xue Jun Min, Dr Wang Xiaopeng and Dr Vincent Lee Wee Siang of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering under the NUS College of Design and Engineering observed light triggering a new mechanism in a catalytic material widely used in water electrolysis, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, which revealed an energy-efficient method to get hydrogen. Assoc. Prof. Xue stated that they found the redox center for electro-catalytic reaction is changed between metal and oxygen, with light activation, largely enhancing water electrolysis efficiency.
The discovery may possibly pave the way for greater efficiency for industrial techniques of producing hydrogen and making this environmentally friendly fuel available to many people and industries.
The discovery was made when the lights in Assoc. Prof. Xue’s research lab went off for 24 hours. When the researchers came back the next day, they noticed that the performance of a nickel oxyhydroxide-based material in the water electrolysis experiment, which went on in the dark but the performance had been reduced, indicating that light could speed up the reaction. “This drop in performance, nobody has ever noticed it before, because no one has ever done the experiment in the dark,” Assoc. Prof. Xue said. “Also, the literature says that such a material shouldn’t be sensitive to light; light should not have any effect on its properties.”
