Isis innovation investigates sand-powered fuel cells

A new method that combines silicon and water to produce hydrogen could serve as a source of emergency gas for future fuel cell vehicles.

The technique developed by an Oxford University research team led by chemist John Foord generates hydrogen locally at low temperatures.

Project manager Dr Jamie Ferguson, who is helping commercialise Foord’s work through the university’s spin-out company Isis Innovation, explained combining silicon and water to produce hydrogen has been considered by others before but technical hurdles stood in their way.

Under normal conditions, silicon does not largely react to water. While it initially rapidly reacts, Ferguson said, it stops abruptly as soon as an oxide layer is formed.

Foord and his team were able to overcome this, he said, by developing a new method for grinding silica, otherwise known as sand, into silicon nanopowder. When in this nano-state, it is claimed silicon will readily generate hydrogen when contacted with water at temperatures between 70 and 90 degrees Celsius.