MIT's 'Artificial Leaf' Makes Fuel From Sunlight 158
New submitter nfn writes "MIT has published a new paper (abstract), along with a video of a working prototype, of what they're describing as an 'Artificial Leaf' that separates water into oxygen and hydrogen using cheap, non-exotic materials. 'The artificial leaf — a silicon solar cell with different catalytic materials bonded onto its two sides — needs no external wires or control circuits to operate. Simply placed in a container of water and exposed to sunlight, it quickly begins to generate streams of bubbles: oxygen bubbles from one side and hydrogen bubbles from the other. If placed in a container that has a barrier to separate the two sides, the two streams of bubbles can be collected and stored, and used later to deliver power: for example, by feeding them into a fuel cell that combines them once again into water while delivering an electric current.' No word on the arrival of 'Artificial Salads,' or when any of their other alchemy projects will bear artificial fruit."
Clean water? (Score:3, Interesting)
So, dirty water and sunlight go in, hydrogen and oxygen go out.
Then the hydrogen and oxygen go into a fuel cell, and electricity and pure water come out.
Efficiency isn't anywhere near perfect, but the benefits to a cycle that turns sunlight and dirty water into electricity and pure water are pretty obvious.
Re:Duplicate (from the 19th century) (Score:2, Interesting)
This is, in fact, a revolutionary new catalyst potentially worth billions. It does the same thing as conventional electrolysis, but is more than 20 times as efficient as just sticking two wires into a bucket. When I saw Nocera present this research at the Spring ACS conference, my jaw was just about on the floor.