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One Step Closer to Artificial Photosynthesis and "Solar Fuels"
http://www.caltech.edu/news/one-step-closer-artificial-photosynthesis-and-solar-fuels-45875[font face=Serif]03/09/2015
[font size=5]One Step Closer to Artificial Photosynthesis and "Solar Fuels"[/font]
[font size=4]Caltech scientists, inspired by a chemical process found in leaves, have developed an electrically conductive film that could help pave the way for devices capable of harnessing sunlight to split water into hydrogen fuel.[/font]
[font size=3]When applied to semiconducting materials such as silicon, the nickel oxide film prevents rust buildup and facilitates an important chemical process in the solar-driven production of fuels such as methane or hydrogen.
"We have developed a new type of protective coating that enables a key process in the solar-driven production of fuels to be performed with record efficiency, stability, and effectiveness, and in a system that is intrinsically safe and does not produce explosive mixtures of hydrogen and oxygen," says Nate Lewis, the George L. Argyros Professor and professor of chemistry at Caltech and a coauthor of a new study, published the week of March 9 in the online issue of the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that describes the film.
The development could help lead to safe, efficient artificial photosynthetic systems—also called solar-fuel generators or "artificial leaves"—that replicate the natural process of photosynthesis that plants use to convert sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuel in the form of carbohydrates, or sugars.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=5]One Step Closer to Artificial Photosynthesis and "Solar Fuels"[/font]
[font size=4]Caltech scientists, inspired by a chemical process found in leaves, have developed an electrically conductive film that could help pave the way for devices capable of harnessing sunlight to split water into hydrogen fuel.[/font]
[font size=3]When applied to semiconducting materials such as silicon, the nickel oxide film prevents rust buildup and facilitates an important chemical process in the solar-driven production of fuels such as methane or hydrogen.
"We have developed a new type of protective coating that enables a key process in the solar-driven production of fuels to be performed with record efficiency, stability, and effectiveness, and in a system that is intrinsically safe and does not produce explosive mixtures of hydrogen and oxygen," says Nate Lewis, the George L. Argyros Professor and professor of chemistry at Caltech and a coauthor of a new study, published the week of March 9 in the online issue of the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that describes the film.
The development could help lead to safe, efficient artificial photosynthetic systems—also called solar-fuel generators or "artificial leaves"—that replicate the natural process of photosynthesis that plants use to convert sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuel in the form of carbohydrates, or sugars.
…[/font][/font]
