Technology Trending: electric ‘wallpaper’, hydrogen from seawater, protecting ozone

Electric ‘wallpaper’ for heating, green hydrogen electrolysis with seawater and protecting the ozone layer from the space industry.

Electric ‘wallpaper’ to heat homes

A wafer-thin film that can be placed in ceilings, under floors or in panels for heating – that is what is being pursued by at least two British companies NexGen Heating and ‘living reinvented’ iHelios.

The films based on nanotechnology provide infrared heating to deliver an even distribution in the room with a reduced risk of air circulating allergens and are claimed to reduce the energy consumption of the property to almost 100% if also coupled with a solar PV and battery storage system.

The products are suitable for all property types, with iHelios stating that full heat temperature is typically reached in 5 minutes and just 20 minutes of running time every hour is required to maintain a constant temperature.

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In the three years in the market iHelios reports having done more than one thousand installations while NexGen reports installations as far afield as France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

“It’s not often that you come across a truly game changing piece of tech (think a ‘horse and cart to car’ style development),” NexGen quotes Octopus Energy in reference to its technology on its website.

Hydrogen from seawater

Hydrogen production requires water and that is currently costly as the water needs to be pure, which can involve deionisation or desalinisation, and could even impact fresh water resources with large scale production.

But that may be about to change with new research on the most abundant water resource on the globe, seawater, demonstrating that direct electrolysis is possible without the need for the addition of any alkalis or acids.

The research led by Professors Shizhang Qiao and Yao Zheng from the University of Adelaide’s School of Chemical Engineering reported splitting natural seawater into oxygen and hydrogen with nearly 100% to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis with the key a chromium oxide coated cobalt oxide catalyst.

With the performance similar to that a typical electrolyser with platinum/iridium catalysts operating in high purity water, the technique offers potential for green hydrogen production in regions with long coastlines and abundant sunlight.

Before it can be commercialised further work is required to manage the complexities of using seawater, such as corrosion, and the research team are now planning to scale up their system with a larger electrolyser.

Ozone layer under threat?

The discovery of the so-called ‘ozone hole’ over Antarctica was one of the early indicators of humankind’s impact on the climate and in turn led to the ban of ozone destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were commonly used in aerosols and refrigeration.

Over the intervening almost 40 years, the ozone layer has started to ‘heal’. But – and staying ‘down under’ – University of Christchurch researchers suggest that process may come under threat from the rapidly growing space industry and the increasing number of rocket launches.

While the full impact of emissions from rockets are not known and the impact to date is estimated to be small, the researchers suggest a need for more measurements and for some policy intervention into an area that is not currently regulated.

“Rockets have exciting potential to enable industrial-level access to near-Earth space, and exploration throughout the solar system. Creating sustainable global rocket launches is going to take coordination across aerospace companies, scientists, and governments: it is achievable, but we need to start now,” says Dr Michele Bannister of the University’s School of Physical & Chemical Science.