In what some are calling a major breakthrough for renewable energy, MIT chemists Daniel Nocera and Matthew Kanan discover a new catalyst that speeds up the splitting of water into oxygen and hydrogen. The discovery may heighten interest in pollution-free fuel cell vehicles, which generate energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen chemically, emitting only water. The catalyst, made from cheap materials and working in ordinary water, may also make it easier to convert sunlight into chemical fuels, storing solar energy in much the way plants do.
Chemical Explorers is a series of short videos about interesting developments in modern chemistry. These are not “instructional” videos meant only for the classroom; they're more like TV science magazine pieces, but delivered over the Internet instead of on television.The project is a collaboration among Moreno/Lyons Productions, the Chemical Heritage Foundation and the Filmmakers Collaborative. It is made possible by a grant from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. What do you think?Have a comment on or a question about one of our videos? A suggestion for a future video? Please let us know what you think. Linkswww.chemheritage.orghttp://filmmakerscollab.org/www.dreyfus.org/
