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Artificial Leaf Could Provide Cheap Energy

Posted by Soulskill on from the make-like-a-tree-and-catalyze-the-electrolysis-of-water dept.

sciencehabit was one of several readers to tip news of a sunlight-harvesting artificial leaf, writing: "Nearly all the energy we use on this planet starts out as sunlight that plants use to knit chemical bonds. Now, for the first time, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a potentially cheap, practical artificial leaf that does much the same thing—providing a vast source of energy that's easy to tap. The new device is a silicon wafer about the shape and size of a playing card coated on either side with two different catalysts. The silicon absorbs sunlight and passes that energy to the catalysts to split water into molecules of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is a fuel that can be either burned or used in a fuel cell to create electricity, reforming water in either case. This means that in theory, anyone with access to water can use it to create a cheap, clean, and available source of fuel."

3 of 326 comments (clear)

  1. Vaporware by GabriellaKat · · Score: 5, Funny

    At last, true vaporware!

    --
    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your politician, and hitting them?"
  2. Re:So it's a solar cell.... by timeOday · · Score: 5, Insightful
    No, actually there is plenty of sunlight to power all current needs and more, if we could capture it efficiently.

    Yup, I linked to a page claiming to "debunk" this "myth" on the basis it would take a solar panel the size of Georgia to power the whole earth. Big deal! Vastly more land is consumed by agriculture. Just reclaiming all the space on rooftops, roadways, and parking lots for solar would account for a lot of that, puttng power generation right where it's needed.

    And then there's there's the 2/3 of the earth covered by water nobody is making much use of. If cheap solar devices can produce hydrogen, it can be shipped long distances efficiently.

  3. Re:10x more efficient than photosynthesis?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Plants limit their photosynthetic efficiency largely because raising it too high starts raising the internal temperature, which raises the rate at which they lose water. Basically, they are tuned to gather 'enough' energy without wasting water (which is rarer for them than sunlight) rather than extracting as much energy from the sun as they can. Biofuels are usually suggested not because they are efficient, but because they are cheap and work fairly well with our existing infrastructure.