Nanotechnology scientists in New York are aiming to improve alternative energy applications, it has been reported.
Researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Centre for Functional Nanomaterials – located in Long Island – have focused their efforts on developing cleaner energy technology, according to New York University’s ScienceLine blog.
A "major research effort" is currently underway to design nanomaterial catalysts that create energy-efficient methods of producing power.
One project is aiming to generate clean-burning hydrogen fuel by producing a catalyst that splits water into its two components – hydrogen and oxygen.
It is essential that work at the site is undertaken in a clean room as dust will look like a "giant boulder" compared to the nanoparticles that the scientists work with.
Gold nanoparticles are particularly useful as a catalyst, as highlighted by recent work conducted by a team from Lehigh University, Cardiff University and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.
