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Home , Hydrogen

in your element First there was hydrogen Wojciech Grochala describes how the oldest, lightest and most abundant element in the continues to play an essential role on today’s .

he history of hydrogen — the element furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and that fills the world as we know it — light”, mentioned in The Mysterious Island as Tconsists of a most dramatic set of events. early as 1874. Hydrogen and emerged a Because H and H2 constitute the measly 379,000 years after the . As prototypical and , the hot, dense of , respectively, they have been extensively used and that was the universe began by theoreticians for over a century — since to cool and expand, electrons and protons the birth of . These two gathered to form atoms. Four hundred million species have served as test beds for rigorous years later — such as our very own critical evaluations of diverse quantum — evolved from gravitationally collapsed mechanical models and approximations6. clouds of hydrogen , providing the heat The oxidation states of hydrogen span necessary to sustain in an otherwise giant, from −1 (), through 0 (elemental), freezing, cosmic abyss at 2.7 . The third to +1 (), with very different colossal breakthrough in hydrogen history physicochemical properties for each species. came some 4.4 billion years ago, when the The H2 molecule — isoelectronic to the temperature on Earth dropped below 100 °C LIBRARY PHOTO OF CONGRESS/SCIENCE LIBRARY closed-shell He atom in the unified atom and dihydrogen began to condense at its model — is quite inert. It was only in 1984 surface, allowing the emergence of life in the to call the substance ‘hydro-gen’, meaning that Kubas described the coordination of 7 new aqueous environment. -former, in 1783. Conversely, in 1800 molecular H2 to transition . On the Today hydrogen is estimated to account Nicholson and Carlisle (shortly followed by contrary, the H− anion is a very strong base for 90% of all atoms in the universe, and it is Ritter) managed to decompose water into its and a strong , whereas H+ is a essential to the material world. That includes elemental constituents using . It voracious and a powerful oxidizer; non ourselves: close to two-thirds of the atoms is this process that we try to achieve today, (or very slightly)-hydrated protons present in our bodies are hydrogen. By no means an although with a much smaller electric bill, in a superacidic environment readily convert unproductive , the first element of the through a photochemical process2. The into carbocations8. Indeed, hydrogen makes for an excellent chemical evolved H2 gas is an excellent, ultra-light has been a key element in establishing quite — one that has been attracting increasing , and very promising as a fuel reasonable theories of acidity and basicity, attention. The early Earth’s was — abundant and environmentally friendly as which came to be viewed as proton transfer rich in hydrogen, and bacterial its oxidation produces water. Molecular H2 reactions in the Brønsted-Lowry theory. called evolved to generate filled one of the first used to carry The first element has never ceased to be energy from molecular H2 or H2O (ref. 1). people in 1783 (pictured), and the fuel tanks of prime importance to many aspects of our proliferated under reducing of rockets two centuries later, permitting the world, and this is poised to continue with its conditions, and many of those have survived inquisitive to explore further and further. major role in sustainable energy strategies. ❐ on to this day. For practical applications, however, it must Van Helmont was the first to find out be stored in either a compressed, liquefied or WOJCIECH GROCHALA is in the Center of that although hydrogen was combustible state3. In 1970 in the Philips Research New Technologies, University of Warsaw, in air, it could not support by laboratories it was accidentally discovered Żwirki i Wigury 93, 02089 Warsaw, Poland. itself. In 1671 described the that hydrogen could be reversibly taken up e-mail: [email protected] formation of gas bubbles from the reaction by intermetallic compounds in the form of a of filings with acid, but it was Cavendish hydride4. This led to spectacular success for References who recognized H (which he referred to electrochemical , and the 1. Vignais, P. M. & Billoud, B. Chem. Rev. 107, 4206–4272 (2007). 2 2. Walter, M. G. et al. Chem. Rev. 110, 6446–6473 (2010). as ‘inflammable air’) as a substance distinct first mass-produced –-hydride 3. Schlapbach, L. & Züttel, A. 414, 353–358 (2001). from other , which, when it was burnt battery-powered vehicles hit the roads 4. Vanvucht, J. H. et al. Philips Res. Rep. 25, 133–140 (1970). in ‘dephlogisticated air’ () produced of Japan in 1997. Together with vigorous 5. Haile, S. M. et al. Nature 410, 910–913 (2001). 6. Kołos, W. & Wolniewicz, L. J. Chem. Phys. 43, 2429–2441 (1965). water. This discovery inspired Lavoisier development of hydrogen–oxygen fuel cells 7. Kubas, G. J. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 106, 451–452 (1984). 5 and solid proton conductors , these advances 8. Olah, G. A. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 93, 1251–1256 (1971). bring us closer to fulfilling Jules Verne’s dream that “hydrogen and oxygen … will Corrected after print 18 March 2015 H He Li Be B C N O F Ne Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar 264 NATURE | VOL 7 | MARCH 2015 | www.nature.com/naturechemistry

© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved Correction In the In Your Element article ‘First there was hydrogen’ (Nature Chem. 7, 264; 2015), the image was incorrect and did not depict a hydrogen . The sentence referring to the image should have read ‘Molecular H2 filled one of the first balloons used to carry people in 1783 (pictured), and the fuel tanks of rockets two centuries later, permitting the inquisitive to explore further and further.’ These errors have been corrected in the online versions after print: 18 March 2015.

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