The production of environmentally friendly and renewable fuels such as hydrogen can be an efficient solution to meeting the demand for energy. However, many challenges must be addressed.
Dmitri Kilin, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of South Dakota, will discuss the possibility of using water and the sun’s energy to create fuel at the October Science Café titled “’Green’ Fuel from Water and Sunlight.”
The event is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. in Stoker’s Basement, Hotel Donaldson in Fargo. It is free and open to the public.
Challenges to producing hydrogen gas include the process’ high cost and demand for high-quality materials. Challenges also include the inefficiency of utilized chemical and physical process that governs the conversion of the solar energy to the energy needed for the chemical reaction of breaking water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Kilin’s talk will introduce hydrogen generation, what governs the water-splitting reaction and how to facilitate it by an appropriate choice of photo-catalytic agents. The role of theory and computations in providing the guidelines for promoting systematic improvements in photo-catalyst activity also will be discussed.
Attendees must be 21 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian. For more information, contact Diane Goede at diane.goede@ndsu.edu or 701-231-7412.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.
