Credit: AI/ScienceDaily.com

A new light-activated material can efficiently produce hydrogen from water without requiring an additional expensive metal catalyst. Researchers say its unusual sulfur-based chemistry could point toward cheaper and more practical ways to turn sunlight into clean fuel. Researchers at Oregon State University have created a new class of materials that can use light to produce hydrogen from water, offering a potentially cleaner way to convert solar energy into fuel. The work was led by Kyriakos Stylianou of the OSU College of Science. His team developed a photocatalyst capable of producing hydrogen quickly and efficiently……….Continue reading…

Source:  ScienceDaily

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Hydrogen can exist in both +1 and −1 oxidation states, forming compounds through ionic and covalent bonding. The element is part of a wide range of substances, including water, hydrocarbons, and numerous other organic compounds. The H⁺ ion—commonly referred to as a proton due to its single proton and absence of electrons—is central to acid–base chemistry, although the proton does not move freely.

In the Brønsted–Lowry framework, acids are defined by their ability to donate H⁺ ions to bases. Hydrogen forms a vast variety of compounds with carbon, known as hydrocarbons, and an even greater diversity with other elements (heteroatoms), giving rise to the broad class of organic compounds often associated with living organisms.

Hydrogen compounds with hydrogen in the oxidation state −1 are known as hydrides, which are usually formed between hydrogen and metals. The hydrides can be ionic (aka saline), covalent, or metallic. With heating, H₂ reacts efficiently with the alkali and alkaline earth metals to give the ionic hydrides of the formulas MH and MH₂, respectively. These salt-like crystalline compounds have high melting points and all react with water to liberate hydrogen.

Covalent hydrides include boranes and polymeric aluminium hydride. Transition metals form metal hydrides via continuous dissolution of hydrogen into the metal. A well-known hydride is lithium aluminium hydride: the [AlH₄]⁻ anion carries hydridic centers firmly attached to the Al(III). Perhaps the most extensive series of hydrides are the boranes, compounds consisting only of boron and hydrogen.

Hydrides can bond to these electropositive elements not only as a terminal ligand but also as bridging ligands. In diborane (B₂H₆), four hydrogen atoms are terminal, while two bridge between the two boron atoms.When bonded to a more electronegative element, particularly fluorine, oxygen, or nitrogen, hydrogen can participate in a form of medium-strength noncovalent bonding with another electronegative element with a lone pair like oxygen or nitrogen.

This phenomenon, called hydrogen bonding, is critical to the stability of many biological molecules. Hydrogen bonding alters molecule structures, viscosity, solubility, melting and boiling points, and even protein folding dynamics.

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