There's a new buckyball on the scene!

In 1985, buckminsterfullerene (a spherical molecule formed of 60 carbon atoms) was discovered by a small team led by Kroto, Curl and Smalley, who later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Buckminsterfullerene belongs to a group of molecules called fullerenes which have shown potential as a hydrogen storage at high densities due to their closed, cage-like structures. Much research has since gone into this class of molecules, and now a cousin of the buckyball has come to light.

Boron is next to carbon in the periodic table and is well-known for it's cluster formation (boranes). Lai-Sheng Wang at the Brown University has successfully made a molecule, nicknamed "borospherene", with 40 boron atoms by vaporising a chunk or boron with a laser then freezing it with helium. Scientists are now hunting for further boron analogues of carbon structures such as graphene.

The key to storing hydrogen?

As we all know, processes which will improve the 'greenness' of the Earth are becoming more and more important in the chemistry industry. Some UK scientists have now developed an electrolysis system which is able to split up water as it oxidises water into oxygen.

So how exactly is this 'green'? Well, normally in electrolysis like this, the hydrogen would be released as hydrogen gas just as the oxygen is released in it's diatomic form. However, scientists in Glasgow have found that using a phosphomolybdate anion, the hydrogen ions are able to be stored. This means that the next step in the electrolysis can be postponed until whenever! This could act as a renewable energy store for hydrogen fuel made by water electrolysis. The idea was to try to reverse the electrolysis process, giving pure hydrogen rather than pure oxygen. If this is developed then this could crack the renewable energy problem as well as improving the carbon footprint of the world!