First Practical Artificial Leaf Makes Debut
The leaf's ability to convert sunlight and water into storable fuel makes it the ultimate in solar energy. Now researchers say they have found a way to mimic this seemingly simple feat.
The technology developed by Dan Nocera of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues could eventually power a house and bring electricity to the developing world with little more than a chip sunk into a bucket of water. The device could even store the energy for when the sun isn't shining.
The new technology copies the process of photosynthesis in which the sun's energy liberates electrons in a leaf, which then split water to form hydrogen and oxygen, providing stored energy for the plant.
"Whether you realize it or not, leaves are buzzing with electricity," Nocera said. "They just don't have any wires in them."
The leaves need two catalysts to make this reaction work, and similarly, so do the solar cells. Nocera's breakthrough is in finding two affordable catalysts that can do the reaction.
The sunlight is captured with the same silicon material that makes up a typical solar panel, but instead of connecting it to wires that can charge a battery, the coated silicon with catalysts is submerged in water.
it is taken from :http://news.discovery.com/earth/artificial-leaf-technology-solar-110329.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+discovery%2FxfJH+%28Discovery+News+-+Top+Stories%29#mkcpgn=rssnws1
The technology developed by Dan Nocera of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and colleagues could eventually power a house and bring electricity to the developing world with little more than a chip sunk into a bucket of water. The device could even store the energy for when the sun isn't shining.
The new technology copies the process of photosynthesis in which the sun's energy liberates electrons in a leaf, which then split water to form hydrogen and oxygen, providing stored energy for the plant.
"Whether you realize it or not, leaves are buzzing with electricity," Nocera said. "They just don't have any wires in them."
The leaves need two catalysts to make this reaction work, and similarly, so do the solar cells. Nocera's breakthrough is in finding two affordable catalysts that can do the reaction.
The sunlight is captured with the same silicon material that makes up a typical solar panel, but instead of connecting it to wires that can charge a battery, the coated silicon with catalysts is submerged in water.
it is taken from :http://news.discovery.com/earth/artificial-leaf-technology-solar-110329.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+discovery%2FxfJH+%28Discovery+News+-+Top+Stories%29#mkcpgn=rssnws1
No comments:
Post a Comment