Dear BEST community,

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have used 
biomimicry to develop a new way of producing hydrogen for fuel cells. 
Hydrogen fuel cells are currently expensive due to the use of an 
expensive platinum catalyst to separate the hydrogen from water. PNNL 
researchers have used hydrogenase (an enzyme in anaerobic digestion) as 
their model, and dissolved the imitation they created in ionic liquid to 
produce 53,000 molecules of hydrogen per second. For real world 
applications, however, the team will need to bind the catalyst to a 
fixed surface rather than dissolve it.

Have a good week!
Candice Prince
BioEnergy and Sustainability School Intern

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/16/pnnl-team-uses-biomimicry-faster-cheaper-hydrogen-catalyst/
New Hydrogen Catalyst Takes off Like a Rocket
Tina Casey
Clean Technica
June 16th, 2012