Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi I just had a few questions. I am doing a project to see which metal based catalyst most efficiently converts solar energy to chemical energy. We are making a circuit to represent the solar energy and we are splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen to create an efficient source of renewable energy. This can then be used as a fuel. I am very enthusiastic about this project and have been saving up to buy the Science Buddies kit, but I had a few questions. We are going to test different metal salt compounds to see which one is the best catalyst (cobalt nitrate has already been proved as it says in the link to the project below). What metals would you recommend that would work in this process? I was wondering where we could find salt metal compounds such as cobalt nitrate or any iron or nickel compound for purchase. Also, how much of the metal salt compound do you need? If you need, here is the link to the project. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... #procedure
Many thanks in advance for your sage wisdom!

Thank you so much for your time, I appreciate it!

Hi ashnashah31,

More efficient production might enable widespread use hydrogen as a fuel. Because of this, a lot of research is currently aimed at developing catalysts for water splitting. These catalysts, like the cobalt catalyst you are investigating in your project, can reduce the energy needed to produce hydrogen and make the process less expensive.

An online search on “water splitting catalyst” revealed several recent articles on catalysts. A couple of examples are listed below.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/june ... 62315.html

https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/201 ... water.aspx

Successful water splitting catalysts based on iron, nickel and magnesium have been reported. But I don’t know the details of how any of these catalysts are prepared. You may be able to find articles describing preparation methods for these catalysts by searching on Google Scholar.

The “Make It Your Own” section of your project suggests trying compounds of nickel, iron or manganese. One possibility would be to use the nitrate salts, following the same preparation procedure described in the project for the cobalt catalyst. Alternatively, the chloride salts are also readily available. These compounds are available from Carolina Biological Supply. But the smallest quantities sold (100 grams) are much more than you need for your experiments. Perhaps your teacher can help you with sources for small amounts of the chemicals.

I hope this helps. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

Thanks that really helped!