UT Knoxville and ORNL Researchers Turn Algae into High-
Temperature Hydrogen Source KNOXVILLE — In the quest to make
hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have
been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean
and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy
process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to
power vehicles. New findings from a team of researchers from the
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, however, show that photosynthesis — the process by
which plants regenerate using energy from the sun — may function
as that clean, sustainable source of hydrogen. The team, led by
Barry Bruce, a professor of biochemistry and cellular and
molecular biology at UT Knoxville, found that the inner
machinery of photosynthesis can be isolated from certain algae
and, when coupled with a platinum catalyst, is able to produce a
steady supply of hydrogen when exposed to light. The findings
are outlined in this week’s issue of the