Talk:Water splitting

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Of course everyone knows that Hydrogen and Oxygen can be extracted from water given a strong enough electrical current. I've seen claims of people developing more efficient electrolysis methods as well as the use of new metals that can supposedly do the job without any electrical power.

These ideas bring me a lot of hope, given the inevitable energy crisis Oil Crash/Peak Oil. We must find new alternatives in order to maintain our way of life, not to mention reduce the effects of global warming. I'm getting the impression that we might actually be getting closer to the mythical H2O powered car.

A new discovery was made by accident by John Kanzius. Seems that radio waves can now be used to break the molecular bonds in salt water as well. I'm convinced that the use of a few Stirling engines could be used to generate enough electriciy to power the car as well as power the Radio Wave device. Here are a few links for this story.

http://ksjtracker.mit.edu/?p=4145

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1578

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/09/10/salt-water-as-fuel-burning-hydrogen-with-radio-waves-its-true/

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:John_Kanzius_Produces_Hydrogen_from_Salt_Water_Using_Radio_Waves

- Kagato —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.228.222.37 (talk) 16:28, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New Method

I'm a student in chemical engineering at FSU and one the professors in the department is active in this field. I have read his dissertations and papers on the topic and I added one of his research topics to the page. It involves using defective carbon substrates to effectively produce hydrogen at much lower temperatures.

Daniel Musto 21:00, 5 November 2007 (UTC)


  • I am intrigued but what on earth is a defective carbon substrate! explain! V8rik 17:22, 6 November 2007 (UTC)
    • Basically, a defective carbon substrate is a carbon structure that has minor flaws. The water molecule then is attracted to these flaws and it aids in breaking the water molecule apart. If you want to know more, read the paper (citation 2 on the article page) or contact me on my Talk page. Love to discuss it. :) Daniel Musto 14:53, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
  • thanks for your comment but I was really hoping you would be able to write a few lines in the article itself with a brief explanation of defective carbon. After all that is what wikipedia is al about! V8rik 17:52, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
    • Don't worry. I'm working on it. ;) Daniel Musto 18:07, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
  • Great! I am looking forward to it. V8rik 18:30, 7 November 2007 (UTC)