New energy order arrives: photosynthesis produces Hydrogen from sea water

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 19 August 2008 10:03

Science - Energy

Commercialisation of the process, however, is still around the 2020 time frame, according to Professor Spiccia.

"We have a plan in place to improve the efficiency to what we have and at the present the system works with an applied potential. We want to remove that applied potential and replace it with a light absorbing material. It will be a bit like plants which use chlorophyll. We'll use a chlorophyll like molecule to drive the whole reaction. Once you do that then you don't need any potential, all you need is sunlight and water to generate Oxygen and Hydrogen ions and electrons, which are combined into Hydrogen gas.

"To be realistic you need a 15 year time frame before something can actually make it into the commercial process."

Professor Spiccia said the efficiency of the system needed to be improved, but this breakthrough had huge potential. "We need to continue to learn from nature so that we can better master this process."

"Hydrogen has long been considered the ideal clean green fuel, energy-rich and carbon-neutral. The production of hydrogen using nothing but water and sunlight offers the possibility of an abundant, renewable, green source of energy for the future for communities across the world."

The research is published this month in the scientific journal Angewandte Chemie, International Edition.