A team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin revealed they have found a cheap and efficient method of generating hydrogen. The latest catalysts discovered by them can pave way to a future 'hydrogen economy'.

The new find presented by the team is sad to work with water supply and there is no climate-altering carbon dioxide involved. The research was published in the online edition of Nature Materials.

Explaining the working of the catalysts Jin's team said they separated water into hydrogen and oxygen using the catalyst made of the abundant elements cobalt, phosphorus and sulfur. Previously hydrogen was produced by separating water with electrical power.

The researchers said their new way of producing hydrogen can also be used to store more and more energy. Now, the major obstacle before a future 'hydrogen economy' is that platinum and noble metals such as platinum, palladium, iridium and gold which are needed for the water-splitting process, are usually very expensive.

Jin and his team suggested a hydrogen-making catalyst that contains phosphorus, sulfur and cobalt, instead of platinum which is 1,000 times more expensive. "In the hydrogen evolution reaction, the whole game is coming up with inexpensive alternatives to platinum and the other noble metals", Jin said.

Miguel Cabán-Acevedo and Michael Stone, both Jin's students were responsible for the discovery of the new catalyst. They replaced iron to make cobalt pyrite and then added phosphorus, getting the impressive high- performance catalyst.

In a press release delivered by the UW-Madison, Jin said they have showed a proof of concept device for using their cobalt catalyst and solar energy to drive hydrogen generation. It has the best reported efficiency for systems that rely only on inexpensive catalysts and materials to convert directly from sunlight to hydrogen, he said.