An iron-based mineral from a meteorite can catalyse a chemical reaction that splits water into oxygen and hydrogen, which can be used as fuel.

Some naturally occurring metallic minerals are known to have catalytic activity. Kevin Sivula and his colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne studied pieces of the Namibian Gibeon meteorite, which was identified in the nineteenth century. They tested how efficiently the mineral could catalyse the oxidation of water, and found that it performed as well as synthetic iron–nickel catalysts and remained stable for 1,000 hours.

The catalytic performance emerged only after about 10 hours of operation, when a layer containing concentrated nickel, iron and cobalt with a unique 3D structure formed at the material's surface. Natural materials could inspire the creation of new kinds of catalyst, the authors suggest.

Energy Environ. Sci. http://doi.org/brsp (2016)