The stark realization in recent times that the earth's fossil fuel resources do not represent an inexhaustible supply of fuel to meet society's energy needs has prompted the investigation of many alternative fuel sources. One of these is water splitting which, when combined with solar or nuclear heat sources, provides a renewable portable fuel from water in the form of hydrogen, which can be stored as a gas, liquid, or hydride depending on the application, The benefits of going to a hydrogen economy appear to be many, and in recent years various researchers around the world have devoted considerable effort to developing a viable process for economic large-scale production of hydrogen fuel from water.