Hydrogen on tap?

Work at the University of Buffalo has shown that spherical silicon particles about 10 nanometres in diameter, when combined with water reacted to form silicic acid and hydrogen. The reaction didn’t require any light, heat or electricity, and also created hydrogen about 150 times faster than similar reactions using silicon particles 100 nanometres wide, and 1,000 times faster than bulk silicon. Whilst the energy required to create the nano-particles exceeds that available from the generation of hydrogen the work may find use in portable applications.