Technology news and Jobs 
VIRTUALISATION New energy order arrives: photosynthesis produces Hydrogen from sea water
VIRTUALISATION New energy order arrives: photosynthesis produces Hydrogen from sea water | New energy order arrives: photosynthesis produces Hydrogen from sea water |
|
| by Stan Beer | |
| Tuesday, 19 August 2008 | |
|
Page 1 of 3   
Featured Whitepaper
5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support
Professor Leone Spiccia of the Monash School of Chemistry, who is a lead researcher in the water splitting program, told iTWire that the MIT and Monash programs are two independent approaches to the same problem. "The MIT one focusses on a Cobalt Phosphate material that they can make and deposit and then they use that to oxidise water. In our case we use a Manganese cubic structure which was developed initially by collaborator (Professor) Chuck Dismukes (of Princeton) as a mimick of the Managanese cluster that's found in all photosynthetic organisms," says Professor Spiccia. "That is the only centre in nature that actually oxidises water. That's the big difference. A manganese cluster is central to a plant's ability to use water, carbon dioxide and sunlight to make carbohydrates and oxygen. We've taken what Chuck Dismukes has done a step further, harnessing the ability of these molecules to convert water into its component elements, oxygen and hydrogen," Professor Spiccia said. "A company in the UK is using a dual cell approach where you generate electricity with a solar cell and you use that electricity to split water. Our approach is that you do away with the solar cell altogether and just irradiate one device and generate hydrogen and oxygen in the process." CONTINUED page 2 |
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
