In the course of evolution and the evolution of species, nature had “invented” a number of very interesting processes, which even at present development of technologies to reproduce is extremely difficult. One such process is photosynthesis is extremely beneficial from an energy point of rhenium mechanism. And, it seems, a group of researchers from China and the UK managed to open the material suitable for hydrogen fuel by pretty much similar to photosynthesis. And it makes all of humanity one step closer to generating clean energy.
According to the publication China Daily, the development of responsible researchers from the University of Liverpool, University College London and the East China University of science and technology. The new material (which don’t even have a name) works in contact with sunlight and can split water into its component parts — oxygen and hydrogen.
“Ideally in the future we will be able to use such materials for the production of large quantities of hydrogen from water using only sunlight.” — said one of the lead authors of the work of Wang Xiaoyang.
The process of so-called artificial photosynthesis known for a long time and it is called “photocatalytic splitting”. The problem here is just that most of these developments, although they perform the task, but proved uneconomical. And besides, the byproduct of such reactions was CO2, which makes the received energy is not quite environmentally friendly.
A group of scientists led by Wang pretty much modified the photocatalytic process of splitting and developed a new kind of inorganic catalyst for the reactions of water splitting. At this time their colleagues from Liverpool synthesized organic material based on sulfur, which is able to “launch” the process, like photosynthesis in presence of sunlight and without the formation of CO2. By combining two promising developments, the experts were the catalysts that produce the splitting of water is much more efficient than all known analogues. Now scientists are conducting the last test new technologies and produce calculations of economic efficiency of their developments. And if the results are positive it will be another confirmation of the fact that it is possible to obtain energy without harming the environment.
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Created material that produces hydrogen fuel through artificial photosynthesis
Vladimir Kuznetsov