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University of Houston team demonstrates new efficient solar water-splitting catalyst for hydrogen production

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Researchers from the University of Houston (UH) have developed a cobalt(II) oxide (CoO) nanocrystalline catalyst that can carry out overall water splitting with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of around 5%. They report on their work in a paper in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

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Researchers develop earth-abundant photocatalyst for conversion of ammonia into hydrogen

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A reaction cell (left) and the photocatalytic platform (right) used on tests of copper-iron plasmonic photocatalysts for hydrogen production from ammonia at Syzygy Plasmonics in Houston. —Hossein Robatjazi, chief scientist at Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics. Courtesy of Syzygy Plasmonics, Inc.

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NSF awards $2M to Rice U collaboration to explore direct conversion of CO2 into fuels

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Koch School of Chemical Engineering Practice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Yuanyue Liu, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. We intend to build an electrochemical modular system as a platform for a continuous conversion process of simulated flue gas to pure liquid fuels.

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Rice team develops plasmonic photocatalyst for one-step light-driven conversion of H2S to hydrogen and sulfur

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Rice University researchers and colleagues at Princeton and Syzygy Plasmonics have developed a plasmonic photocatalyst for the direct decomposition of hydrogen sulfide gas into hydrogen and sulfur, as an alternative to the industrial Claus process. Image courtesy of Halas Group/Rice University).

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Researchers show how bacteria convert toxic copper ions to stable metallic copper

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Researchers from the University of Houston, with colleagues at the University of São Paolo in Brazil, have demonstrated how copper-resistant bacterium from a copper mine in Brazil convert CuSO 4 (copper sulfate) ions into zero-valent Cu (metallic copper). An open-access paper on their research is published in Science Advances.

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U. Houston-led project looking for new exhaust treatment catalysts for low-temperature lean-burn combustion engines

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A chemical engineer from the University of Houston is leading a $2.1-million The project also includes researchers from the University of Virginia (UVA); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). Engineers from Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles Inc. and Johnson Matthey Inc. —Michael Harold.

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Study finds paved surfaces in Houston worsen air quality

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Paved surfaces in the Houston area keep the city warmer than more natural surfaces. ““The very existence of the Houston area favors stagnation.” The research team combined extensive atmospheric measurements with computer simulations to examine the impact of pavement on breezes in Houston. Credit: UCAR.

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