#hydrolysis

Brazilian scientists obtain a material that could be useful for hydrogen production

Hydrogen (H2) is considered a possible alternative to fossil fuels, which are responsible for a large proportion of atmospheric emissions and global warming, but production costs must be lowered if it is to become a viable option. In an article published in the journal Electrochimica Acta, scientists at the Center for Development of Functional Materials (CDMF), a Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (RIDC) hosted at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in São Paulo state, Brazil, describe the synthesis of a nickel phosphide electrode that showed high efficiency in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysis. This type of reaction, which is still costly, breaks down water molecules to release hydrogen ions in a process known as hydrolysis.

A Water molecule consists of two Hydrogen atoms covalently bonded by an Oxygen atom. As Oxygen is more electronegative than Hydrogen which is slightly more positive,it has a greater pull on the shared electrons. Therefore Water is is a polar molecule.

Moreover Hydrogen bonds within water give it high stability, which means that a large amount of energy is required to raise its temperature. Due to this property organisms can live in environments such as the ocean. This also means a large amount of heat is required to evaporate water, therefore it useful in cooking for example sweating.

Also as water lowers in temperature it’s Molecules are less able to break the Hydrogen bonds due to less kinetic energy. The water molecules form a semi-crystalline structure high holds the water molecules apart, making ice which is less dense than its liquid form so it floats. Due to this ice can insulate water beneath so that organisms can survive.

-- motor protein type

-- play a role in muscle contraction

-- participate in various other motility processes in eukaryotes

-- ATP-dependent

-- responsible for actin-based motility

-- a large superfamily of genes

-- protein products share properties      -- actin binding      -- ATP hydrolysis      -- force transduction

-- most myosin molecules are made of a head, neck, and tail domain