People have an intrinsic urge to break stuff down to its building blocks and find out how it works. This habit has driven many scientific endeavours and has led to many discoveries. Two English scientists, William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle, undertook one such endeavour in 1800, giving the world the technique called electrolysis. By definition, electrolysis is chemical decomposition achieved by passing an electric current through a liquid or a solution that contains ions.
In their first attempt at electrolysis, the scientists passed a direct current through water. As the water split into the elements it is made of, the scientists found evidence of oxygen and dihydrogen at the electrodes.
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Electrolysis requires an electrolytic cell that consists of positively and negatively charged electrodes submerged in a solution containing particles of the opposite charge. As the electric current passes through the solution, the negatively charged electrode (cathode) attracts the positively charged ions, while the positively charged electrode (anode) attracts the negatively charged ions. Depending on the solution and the materials in use, the process can release gases, form solids, or even leave behind a completely new solution.
Electrolysis has many uses in the commercial sector, in particular to extract and purify metals from their ores. One source of ‘green’ hydrogen is to electrolyse water using ‘green’ electricity.
