Clever New Device Can Produce Hydrogen Fuel Using Water And Sunlight
DAVID NIELD 9 MAY 2020
Scientists are very keen to find effective ways of getting hydrogen from water, thus unlocking hydrogen's potential as a clean fuel. A newly developed device manages the feat, using only sunlight as a power source.
Using catalytic electrodes and perovskite solar cells fused together in a single unit, the clever contraption can hit sunlight-to-hydrogen efficiency rates as high as 6.7 percent. It just drops into water, and away it goes (when the Sun is out).
It might be a bit too early to start converting all our cars to take zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells, but the researchers behind the new invention say that it should be relatively easy to scale up the technology for wider use.
"The concept is broadly similar to an artificial leaf," says materials scientist Jun Lou, from Rice University in Texas. "What we have is an integrated module that turns sunlight into electricity that drives an electrochemical reaction. It utilises water and sunlight to get chemical fuels."
More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/new-device-splits-water-into-hydrogen-fuel-to-create-perpetual-energy-source