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UT El Paso-led team designs cactus-inspired low-cost, efficient water-splitting catalyst

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Researchers led by engineers at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) have proposed a low-cost, cactus-inspired nickel-based material to help split water more cheaply and efficiently. Nickel, however, is not as quick and effective at breaking down water into hydrogen. who led the study.

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Rice U team creates low-cost, high-efficiency integrated device for solar-driven water splitting; solar leaf

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Rice University researchers have created an efficient, low-cost device that splits water to produce hydrogen fuel. The current flows to the catalysts that turn water into hydrogen and oxygen, with a sunlight-to-hydrogen efficiency as high as 6.7%. It utilizes water and sunlight to get chemical fuels. 9b09053.

Low Cost 243
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Exeter team develops low-cost photoelectrode for spontaneous water-splitting using sunlight

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The nanostructured photoelectrode results in spontaneous hydrogen evolution from water without any external bias applied with a faradaic efficiency of 30% and excellent stability. The greatest challenge is to develop a suitable technology for large scale and cost effective solar fuel production to compete with fossil fuel.

Water 342
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EPFL team develops low-cost water splitting cell with solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 12.3%

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Michael Grätzel at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland has developed a highly efficient and low-cost water-splitting cell combining an advanced perovskite tandem solar cell and a bi-functional Earth-abundant catalyst. Splitting water requires an applied voltage of at least 1.23 V and up to 1.5

Low Cost 278
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UTSA, SwRI researchers developing low-cost method to treat fracking water using biochar

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Researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) are investing $200,000 in new research to develop a low-cost method to treat flow-back water following hydraulic fracturing. It will be tested on water samples from the Eagle Ford Shale.

Low Cost 207
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SwRI, UTSA researchers show biochar is low-cost, effective method to treat fracking water

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Researchers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) have determined that biochar, a substance produced from plant matter, is a safe, effective and inexpensive method to treat flowback water following hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. —Maoqi Feng, SwRI.

Water 257
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Swiss team develops effective and low-cost solar water-splitting device; 14.2% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency

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As the V OC of the presented c-Si cells is only ∼600 mV, four cells need to be connected in series to achieve stable water splitting performance. We demonstrate in this study that, thanks to their high V OC , three series-connected SHJ cells can already stably drive the water splitting reaction at unprecedented SHE.

Solar 150