New Solar Cell Harvests Hydrogen From Water

Engadgets is reporting that researchers at Penn State have built a new kind of solar cell that can harvest hydrogen directly from water. "The folks at Penn State have now developed a process that more closely mimics the photosynthesis process in plants, and while we won't pretend to understand all the nitty gritty of dye usage and other such nonsense, we do know that such a system could eventually attain 15% or so efficiency, providing a nice and clean way to gather power for that fuel cell car of the future."

Comments

Re:15% efficiency

[TheRaven64]

I disagree. Lots of the best places for solar collection are a long way away from human habitation. If you can efficiently produce hydrogen (or, better, an energy-dense hydrocarbon) in these places then you can easily transport it to where it is needed.