<p>If the latest developments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are any indication, such a possibility is no longer in the imaginative realm, says well-known scientist C N R Rao. <br /><br />“My friend at the MIT has come up with an extraordinary material, a cobalt-oxygen cube, which could be the bedrock of a new technology in a frontier area of materials science,” Rao said. <br /><br />Outlining a “vision for science and nanotechnology in India” at B S Abdur Rahman University at Vandalur after inaugurating its polymer nanotechnology centre, Rao said this new cube had such amazing properties that “throw any kind of water at it, even dirty water, it instantly gives out oxygen and hydrogen.” <br /><br />These gases could be easily connected to a fuel cell to drive any automobile, he added. <br />Stating that he would visit his friend at MIT shortly, Rao said this has been “one of the major discoveries” in this discipline in the last three to four months. It has been an amazing offshoot of top-end research on photo-synthetic process in nature.<br /><br />The Tatas have always dreamt of making a car that ran on water and “I believe Ratan Tata has already got in touch with them (the MIT Group),” said Rao. <br /><br />In fact, the biggest research focus in the US now was to find “any solid source which can safely store hydrogen up to an optimal level,” he added. <br /><br />Besides superconductive materials, an important work going on at his lab in Bangalore was on multi-feroics substance that can alternately occasion magnetic and electrical fields with aplomb, Rao said. “Very complex and exciting materials” were opening up for research now.</p>
<p>If the latest developments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are any indication, such a possibility is no longer in the imaginative realm, says well-known scientist C N R Rao. <br /><br />“My friend at the MIT has come up with an extraordinary material, a cobalt-oxygen cube, which could be the bedrock of a new technology in a frontier area of materials science,” Rao said. <br /><br />Outlining a “vision for science and nanotechnology in India” at B S Abdur Rahman University at Vandalur after inaugurating its polymer nanotechnology centre, Rao said this new cube had such amazing properties that “throw any kind of water at it, even dirty water, it instantly gives out oxygen and hydrogen.” <br /><br />These gases could be easily connected to a fuel cell to drive any automobile, he added. <br />Stating that he would visit his friend at MIT shortly, Rao said this has been “one of the major discoveries” in this discipline in the last three to four months. It has been an amazing offshoot of top-end research on photo-synthetic process in nature.<br /><br />The Tatas have always dreamt of making a car that ran on water and “I believe Ratan Tata has already got in touch with them (the MIT Group),” said Rao. <br /><br />In fact, the biggest research focus in the US now was to find “any solid source which can safely store hydrogen up to an optimal level,” he added. <br /><br />Besides superconductive materials, an important work going on at his lab in Bangalore was on multi-feroics substance that can alternately occasion magnetic and electrical fields with aplomb, Rao said. “Very complex and exciting materials” were opening up for research now.</p>
