Researchers split water with sunlight for cheaper renewable energy

William Atkins
Tuesday, 19 August 2008 19:49

Science - Energy

The ABC article continues, “Spiccia says they discovered when the cubanes, which are about 1.5 nanometres square, were contained within the proton conductor they became more stable and less likely to deteriorate.”

Spiccia states in ScienceDaily.com: "The breakthrough came when we coated a proton conductor, called Nafion, onto an anode to form a polymer membrane just a few micrometres thick, which acts as a host for the manganese clusters."

He adds, "Normally insoluble in water, when we bound the catalyst within the pores of the Nafion membrane, it was stabilised against decomposition and, importantly, water could reach the catalyst where it was oxidised on exposure to light." [ScienceDaily.com]

Spiccia continues, "When you take water and start to oxidise it you get radical matter that is very reactive and destructive and generally kills off the catalyst.” However, Spiccia adds, “We've hit on something that's stopped that side of the reaction." [ABC Science]

The next step for the team is to improve on the efficiency of their new process to produce hydrogen from sunlight. Spiccia states, "We need to continue to learn from nature so that we can better master this process." [ScienceDaily.com]

Spiccia concludes, "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." [ScienceDaily.com]