HYDROGEN fuel cells may be the future of clean energy, but only if a cheaper option can be found for the platinum catalysts they use. Bacterial enzymes that carry out similar reactions might be the key.
In a conventional fuel cell, platinum catalyses the splitting of hydrogen into electrons and protons, which eventually recombine with oxygen to form water. In the search for an alternative catalyst, Christopher Pickett of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, and his colleagues looked at bacterial enzymes. “Nature can do these reactions with the elements of fool’s gold – iron and sulphur,” says Pickett.
The…
