How Did We Split That Water?

    Japanese researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology say they've found a way to split water by using a mechano-catalysts.  The group claims that Cu(I) oxide can catalyze the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen in visible light.  But, when the lights went out the real fun started!  The gases continued to evolve several hundred hours after the light was turned off!
    Similar results were seen with other binary oxides such as NiO, Co₃O₄, and Fe₃O₄.   The researchers think that the mechanical energy supplied by stirring is converted to chemical energy by the oxide catalysts.  Not everyone is ready to embrace this theory though.
    Dr. Michael Gratzel of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology thinks that the electrical charging of the powder (by friction) followed by local discharge may cause the splitting of the water molecules.
   Mr. Arthur Nozik of the of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado proposes that the oxides react directly with the water through an auto-redox reaction to produce hydrogen and oxygen.
    However it's accomplished, it may be a more cost effective way to produce hydrogen and oxygen as opposed to traditional electroylosis.  We'll just have to wait and see.