Hydrogen mission: Thrice as nice
February 14, 2021
All aboard: The long-awaited National Mission on Hydrogen looks imminent, given its mention in the Budget speech - ISTOCK.COM
All aboard: The long-awaited National Mission on Hydrogen looks imminent, given its mention in the Budget speech - ISTOCK.COM×
To power its economy with pocket-friendly green hydrogen, India need look no further than its farmlands
Biezel Green Energy (BGE) is not a known name, except perhaps in the vicinity of Varanasi, where the company has a production unit. But what the company is doing may be a good indicator of the shape of things to come, in the hydrogenisation of the Indian economy.
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Researchers C Sathiskumar, C Alex and Neena S John at the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences, a unit of the Department of Science and Technology, have developed a catalyst to make low-cost hydrogen peroxide, a useful chemical. They synthesised a composite chemical called nickel cobalt phosphite (NiCo-Phi) decorated with carbon nanotubes. The chemical functioned as a catalyst for two reactions oxygen evolution and oxygen reduction. Usually, reduction reactions gaining electrons of transition metal phosphorous oxy compounds end up in the formation of hydroxyl. However, in this reaction, because the catalyst allowed two-electron transfer instead of four-electron transfer, the researchers could “tune” the reaction for the production of hydrogen peroxide. The yield was high, researchers say.