Context

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi have come up with a way to generate clean fuel hydrogen from water at a low-cost, which is a significant step towards efforts across the globe that are being made to look for cleaner and greener energy sources.

About

What is hydrogen?

• Hydrogen is a clean alternative to methane, also known as natural gas. 
• It's the most abundant chemical element, estimated to contribute 75% of the mass of the universe.

Key-highlights of the research

• The researchers have successfully split water by a process known as Sulphur-Iodine (SI) thermochemical hydrogen cycle to generate low-cost, clean hydrogen fuel for industrial consumption.
• The thermo-chemical hydrogen cycle for splitting water offers a practical means of generating hydrogen as a fuel and also oxygen as a byproduct.
• Hence, it can be considered favourably for the commercial production of hydrogen on a large scale, in the near future.