Hydrogen-powered fuel cells could provide efficient, reliable power for everything from buildings to autos and wireless devices. But there's a big problem: how do you get the hydrogen in the first place?

The most common methods of producing hydrogen-separating it from steam, extracting it from methanol or biomass such as corn, or simply splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen-are expensive and make the so-called hydrogen economy seem decades away. Scientists are making progress, though, by improving the catalysts employed in many of these hydrogen-producing reactions. Common catalysts have included precious metals like gold and platinum. But researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have constructed a catalyst from nickel, aluminum, and tin that could be hundreds of times less expensive and still accelerate reactions involving either methanol or biomass. "Using a nickel-based catalyst can greatly reduce costs, especially for a larger reaction," says Randy Cortright, a member of the Wisconsin team who founded Virent Energy of Madison, WI, to commercialize the method.