News Release 08-129 - Video
Tony Chan and Luis Echegoyen of NSF comment on a simple technique to extract oxygen from water.
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Tony Chan, assistant director for NSF's Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences, tells us why the new oxygen catalyst technique is what NSF is all about. This research produces a significant impact on society in one of our most important problems, sustainable energy.
Luis Echegoyen, director of NSF's Division of Chemistry, describes how the researchers achieved the holy grail of science, producing oxygen from water, a notoriously slow reaction. The experiment is simple and can be done in your kitchen sink. Just apply a electric potential in a neutral pH salty water solution. A thin film is produced on the surface of the catalyst that forms oxygen from water. The reaction is made truly accessible.
Credit: National Science Foundation