Debut of the First Practical

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Debut of the first practical 'artificial leaf'

ANAHEIM, March 27, 2011 ² Scientists today claimed one of the milestones in the

drive for sustainable energy ² development of the first practical artificial leaf. Speakinghere at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, they described an

advanced solar cell the size of a poker card that mimics the process, calledphotosynthesis, that green plants use to convert sunlight and water into energy.

"A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades," saidDaniel Nocera, Ph.D., who led the research team. "We believe we have done it. Theartificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homesof the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own powerstation," he said. "One can envision villages in India and Africa not long from nowpurchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology."

The device bears no resemblance to Mother Nature's counterparts on oaks, maples andother green plants, which scientists have used as the model for their efforts to develop

this new genre of solar cells. About the shape of a poker card but thinner, the device isfashioned from silicon, electronics and catalysts, substances that accelerate chemical

reactions that otherwise would not occur, or would run slowly. Placed in a single gallonof water in a bright sunlight, the device could produce enough electricity to supply ahouse in a developing country with electricity for a day, Nocera said. It does so bysplitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen and oxygen gases would be stored in a fuel cell, which uses those twomaterials to produce electricity, located either on top of the house or beside it.

Nocera, who is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, points out that the"artificial leaf" is not a new concept. The first artificial leaf was developed more than a

decade ago by John Turner of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory inGolden, Colorado. Although highly efficient at carrying out photosynthesis, Turner'sdevice was impractical for wider use, as it was composed of rare, expensive metals andwas highly unstable ² with a lifespan of barely one day.

Nocera's new leaf overcomes these problems. It is made of inexpensive materials thatare widely available, works under simple conditions and is highly stable. In laboratorystudies, he showed that an artificial leaf prototype could operate continuously for atleast 45 hours without a drop in activity.

The key to this breakthrough is Nocera's recent discovery of several powerful new,inexpensive catalysts, made of nickel and cobalt, that are capable of efficiently splittingwater into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen, under simple conditions. Rightnow, Nocera's leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis thana natural leaf. However, he is optimistic that he can boost the efficiency of the artificial

leaf much higher in the future.

"Nature is powered by photosynthesis, and I think that the future world will be poweredby photosynthesis as well in the form of this artificial leaf," said Nocera, a chemist atMassachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.



Debut of the first practical 'artificial leaf'

ANAHEIM, March 27, 2011 ² Scientists today claimed one of the milestones in the

drive for sustainable energy ² development of the first practical artificial leaf. Speakinghere at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, they described an

advanced solar cell the size of a poker card that mimics the process, calledphotosynthesis, that green plants use to convert sunlight and water into energy.

"A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades," saidDaniel Nocera, Ph.D., who led the research team. "We believe we have done it. Theartificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homesof the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own powerstation," he said. "One can envision villages in India and Africa not long from nowpurchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology."

The device bears no resemblance to Mother Nature's counterparts on oaks, maples andother green plants, which scientists have used as the model for their efforts to develop

this new genre of solar cells. About the shape of a poker card but thinner, the device isfashioned from silicon, electronics and catalysts, substances that accelerate chemical

reactions that otherwise would not occur, or would run slowly. Placed in a single gallonof water in a bright sunlight, the device could produce enough electricity to supply ahouse in a developing country with electricity for a day, Nocera said. It does so bysplitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen and oxygen gases would be stored in a fuel cell, which uses those twomaterials to produce electricity, located either on top of the house or beside it.

Nocera, who is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, points out that the"artificial leaf" is not a new concept. The first artificial leaf was developed more than a

decade ago by John Turner of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory inGolden, Colorado. Although highly efficient at carrying out photosynthesis, Turner'sdevice was impractical for wider use, as it was composed of rare, expensive metals andwas highly unstable ² with a lifespan of barely one day.

Nocera's new leaf overcomes these problems. It is made of inexpensive materials thatare widely available, works under simple conditions and is highly stable. In laboratorystudies, he showed that an artificial leaf prototype could operate continuously for atleast 45 hours without a drop in activity.

The key to this breakthrough is Nocera's recent discovery of several powerful new,inexpensive catalysts, made of nickel and cobalt, that are capable of efficiently splittingwater into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen, under simple conditions. Rightnow, Nocera's leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis thana natural leaf. However, he is optimistic that he can boost the efficiency of the artificial

leaf much higher in the future.

"Nature is powered by photosynthesis, and I think that the future world will be poweredby photosynthesis as well in the form of this artificial leaf," said Nocera, a chemist atMassachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.



MIT Research Team Develops µArtificial Leaf¶ that

Splits Water, Produces Hydrogen & Oxygen Gas

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011 BY ANDREW 7 COMMENTS

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A research team led by pioneering clean energy technology developer and MIT

professor Daniel Nocera has developed an µartificial leaf¶ that like its

namesake captures energy from sunlight and produces electricity that it then turns

into chemical fuel ² hydrogen and oxygen gas.Made up of a thin sheet of silicon solar cell material bonded either side with thin

sheets of catalytic cobalt and nickel-molybdenum-zinc, when placed in an ordinary

container of water, the µartificial leaf¶s¶ solar photovoltaic (PV) cells generate an

electric current which catalysts bonded to the solar cell sheet use to produce oxygen

and hydrogen gas.

Collected, stored and coupled to hydrogen fuel cells, the gases could be used as an

energy carrier that would create electricity on demand at scales ranging from

individual home use on up to utility-scale power plants.

³I think there¶s going to be real opportunities for this idea,´ Nocera told MIT

News¶ David L. Chandler. ³You can¶t get more portable ² you don¶t need wires, it¶s

lightweight«You just drop it in a glass of water, and it starts splitting it.´

The µartificial leaf¶ converted 2.5% of incident sunlight into electricity, which is low

compared with the 10% and higher energy conversion efficiencies found in today¶s

solar panels, but Nocera and his team are working at boosting it. Connecting wires

to connect the catalysts to the solar cell membrane raised its conversion efficiency

to 4.7%.

Moreover, the materials used to manufacture the µleaf¶ are common and relatively

abundant in nature, which offers the potential of producing them cheaply and on a

large-scale, while the µartificial leaf small size makes it extremely portable.



Nocera and his team are also looking at the possibility of breaking the µartificial leaf¶

down into much smaller particles that can capture the energy in sunlight to split

water molecules akin to the way this is done in nature by algae. Doing this would

increase the surface area available to absorb sunlight, hence raising the system¶senergy conversion efficiency.

Separating and collecting the two gas streams produced would be more difficult with

µartificial algae¶ as compared to the µartificial leaf,¶ which, along with a means of

storing the gases, is the next step Nocera and his team are looking to take to further

develop the clean energy system.

Commenting on the research development, Imperial College of London biochemist

and professor James Barber said, ³This is a major achievement, which is one more

step toward developing cheap and robust technology to harvest solar energy as

chemical fuel«

³There is no doubt that their achievement is a major breakthrough which will have a

significant impact on the work of others dedicated to constructing light-driven

catalytic systems to produce hydrogen and other solar fuels from water.

Tempering enthusiasm a bit, he added that, ³There will be much work required to

optimize the system, particularly in relation to the basic problem of efficiently using

protons generated from the water-splitting reaction for hydrogen production.´

Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/13nG7)

Yes for Real, We Now Have a Genuine Artificial

Solar Leaf

MARCH 28, 2011 BY TINA CASEY 10 COMMENTS

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Yet another new

breakthrough in low cost solar energy just made its debut, and this one is a doozy: a

solar cell the size of a typical leaf , that actually creates energy the same way a leaf

does: with photosynthesis. No, for real. You just park it in a bucket of water and it

generates enough electricity to power household devices« eventually (more on that

below). The announcement was made by the lead researcher on the MIT-basedproject, Dr. Daniel Nocera, who said, ³A practical artificial leaf has been one of the

Holy Grails of science for decades.´

Solar Power from an Artificial Leaf

The new solar cell is about about the size of a poker card. It doesn¶t produce usable

electricity directly, like a photovoltaic cell does. Instead, it is used to split water

molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gasses. These are stored in a fuel cell, which

then produces the electricity for household use. The idea is to have the combinationof solar ³leaf´ and fuel cell as an affordable onsite renewable energy appliance that

practically anyone could afford, just like a furnace, hot water heater or emergency

generator. One sticking point in the research was to find a low-cost catalyst to set off

the reaction, and Nocera¶s team came up with several alternatives made of nickel

and cobalt.



Photosynthesis and Renewable Energy

Though Nocera is apparently the first to come up with a commercially viable, low-

cost renewable energy system based on photosynthesis, other researchers are also

following the trail. At the Department of Energy¶s Oak Ridge laboratory, long-running

research into a light-harvesting protein from spinach has resulted in a similar

hydrogen-producing process.

Affordable Energy, Thank You Federal Government

With oil prices spiking up for the umpteenth time in the past few years, consumers

are eager for a solution, and renewable energy is beginning to provide it. When

Nocera¶s solar leaf is ready for commercial production, we can all pat ourselves on

the back: some of our tax dollars have supported his research, through theDepartment of Energy¶s ARPA-E transformational energy program.

Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12tKR)

A lab at MIT, led by Dr. Daniel Nocera, have invented a new and novel form of

storing energy that may prove to be an important milestone in the development of

alternative energy. In fact, the obvious utility of the process has engendered a bit of

excitement, but this excitement has also generated some misconceptions about the

process that I would like to clear up, now that I have a more complete understandingof how it works.

In essence, what Nocera¶s group has developed is a method for splitting oxygen and

hydrogen with far greater efficiency than the old electrolysis process. The process is

essentially a catalytic one, and uses cobalt and phosphate compounds which react

under a charge to form the final catalytic form, which splits the water into it¶s

component parts using an electron transfer much like what occurs in photosynthesis.

I don¶t want to rain on everyone¶s parade here, but I¶ve been reading a lot of stories

about this technology that miss the point about what the real breakthrough is here,

and what it does. This is a vital development, but let¶s go through some

misconceptions about what this technology is before I move on to what this

technology promises.



1) This is not a leaf! A leaf is a highly complex organic structure that has many

functions, including gathering light, converting it to a storable form, and water, gas

and temperature regulation. This technology can only convert electricity into a more

storable form; it¶s analogous to the process of gluconeogenesis (i.e. the productionof sugars) in the leaf, not the leaf itself. You will still need to have some conventional

photovoltaic system, and a fuel cell, to complete the µleaf¶. Part of the reason for this

misconception is that the Nocera team did in fact show off a demo system that had

all of those things together in one unit, but that demonstration of the value of the

technology is not the story here; the water splitting process itself has so many other

uses in the energy arena that it boggles the mind!

2) This is not a revolutionary solar product! This is a revolutionary way of storing

free electricity. The source is irrelevant; it could be solar, sure! But it could be used

to store energy produced from wind, tidal, or geothermal power. You could even use

it to store power generated from fossil fuels, though I¶m not sure how that would be

useful, since fossil fuels themselves are already potent stored forms of energy.

3) This is not going to be on store shelves soon! New inexpensive compact

systems will have to be developed to work with this catalyst to store gases and then

convert them back into electricity in a closed loop if the demo product that the

Nocera group showed off is to become a reality. This will take time, as will durability

testing of the catalyst itself. Catalysts are famously fragile, and it could be that under

harsh conditions the catalyst will break down. If that is the case, then the unit that

produces gases from electricity will have to be separated from the energy generation

system in a separate, climate controlled unit, but this is not an insurmountable

technical challenge by any means. However, in the research that the group has

published, it does seem that the catalyst is pretty resistant to pH and temperature

changes, which is a good sign that durability issues will not be a big headache.

Why This Technology is Important

What this technology represents is something even better than a mere power

generation method; it¶s a way to put the methods that we currently have to generate

clean energy to work for us in a huge way! Many people complain that they always



see wind generators standing still, but this is because there is too much power

available, and the grid can¶t handle the extra juice. Indeed, we wasted 25 TWh of

potential electricity generation from windmills last year because we had no place to

store the power . In the past, methods of storing this excess energy were terriblyexpensive (batteries), terribly inefficient (hydrolysis), or just terrible (complex and

potentially dangerous spinning flywheels).

Some estimates say that this new catalyst can break water at more than 10

times the efficiency of older hydrolysis methods, and this is an enormous leap in

the right direction. This technology can level the load, and set aside the electricity

output of these generators until it is needed. The result: we can run our wind

generators 24/7, or as long as the wind holds out, and when it does stop we will still

have flowing power! Similarly, we can store power from photovoltaic sources to use

overnight, or on cloudy days. This is a huge development, but don¶t be mistaken, it is

just one part of the puzzle, albeit a vital one. We will have to watch the development

of the technology carefully, but for now I wish the best of luck to the Nocera team in

developing this energy storage solution, because we desperately need such things if

we are to build a future of sustainable and uninterrupted power.

Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12tBQ)

A lab at MIT, led by Dr. Daniel Nocera, have invented a new and novel form of storing energy

that may prove to be an important milestone in the development of alternative energy. In fact,

the obvious utility of the process has engendered a bit of excitement, but this excitement has

also generated some misconceptions about the process that I would like to clear up, now that I

have a more complete understanding of how it works.

In essence, what Nocera¶s group has developed is a method for splitting oxygen and hydrogen

with far greater efficiency than the old electrolysis process. The process is essentially a catalytic

one, and uses cobalt and phosphate compounds which react under a charge to form the final

catalytic form, which splits the water into it¶s component parts using an electron transfer much

like what occurs in photosynthesis. I don¶t want to rain on everyone¶s parade here, but I¶ve been

reading a lot of stories about this technology that miss the point about what the real

breakthrough is here, and what it does. This is a vital development, but let¶s go through some



misconceptions about what this technology is before I move on to what this technology

promises.

1) This is not a leaf! A leaf is a highly complex organic structure that has many functions,

including gathering light, converting it to a storable form, and water, gas and temperature

regulation. This technology can only convert electricity into a more storable form; it¶s analogous

to the process of gluconeogenesis (i.e. the production of sugars) in the leaf, not the leaf itself.

You will still need to have some conventional photovoltaic system, and a fuel cell, to complete

the µleaf¶. Part of the reason for this misconception is that the Nocera team did in fact show off a

demo system that had all of those things together in one unit, but that demonstration of the

value of the technology is not the story here; the water splitting process itself has so many other

uses in the energy arena that it boggles the mind!

2) This is not a revolutionary solar product! This is a revolutionary way of storing free

electricity. The source is irrelevant; it could be solar, sure! But it could be used to store energyproduced from wind, tidal, or geothermal power. You could even use it to store power generated

from fossil fuels, though I¶m not sure how that would be useful, since fossil fuels themselves are

already potent stored forms of energy.

3) This is not going to be on store shelves soon! New inexpensive compact systems will

have to be developed to work with this catalyst to store gases and then convert them back into

electricity in a closed loop if the demo product that the Nocera group showed off is to become a

reality. This will take time, as will durability testing of the catalyst itself. Catalysts are famously

fragile, and it could be that under harsh conditions the catalyst will break down. If that is the

case, then the unit that produces gases from electricity will have to be separated from the

energy generation system in a separate, climate controlled unit, but this is not an

insurmountable technical challenge by any means. However, in the research that the group has

published, it does seem that the catalyst is pretty resistant to pH and temperature changes,

which is a good sign that durability issues will not be a big headache.

Why This Technology is Important

What this technology represents is something even better than a mere power generation

method; it¶s a way to put the methods that we currently have to generate clean energy to work

for us in a huge way! Many people complain that they always see wind generators standing still,but this is because there is too much power available, and the grid can¶t handle the extra juice.

Indeed, we wasted 25 TWh of potential electricity generation from windmills last year because

we had no place to store the power . In the past, methods of storing this excess energy were

terribly expensive (batteries), terribly inefficient (hydrolysis), or just terrible (complex and

potentially dangerous spinning flywheels).



Some estimates say that this new catalyst can break water at more than 10 times the

efficiency of older hydrolysis methods, and this is an enormous leap in the right direction.

This technology can level the load, and set aside the electricity output of these generators until it

is needed. The result: we can run our wind generators 24/7, or as long as the wind holds out,

and when it does stop we will still have flowing power! Similarly, we can store power from

photovoltaic sources to use overnight, or on cloudy days. This is a huge development, but don¶t

be mistaken, it is just one part of the puzzle, albeit a vital one. We will have to watch the

development of the technology carefully, but for now I wish the best of luck to the Nocera team

in developing this energy storage solution, because we desperately need such things if we are

to build a future of sustainable and uninterrupted power.

Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12tBQ)

A solar cell (also called photovoltaic cell or photoelectric cell) is a solid state electrical

device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect.

Assemblies of solar cells are used to make solar modules which are used to capture energy

from sunlight. When multiple modules are assembled together (such as prior to installation

on a pole-mounted tracker system), the resulting integrated group of modules all oriented in

one plane is referred to in the solar industry as a solar panel . The electrical energy

generated from solar modules, referred to as solar power , is an example of solar energy .

Photovoltaics is the field of technology and research related to the practical application of photovoltaic cells in producing electricity from light, though it is often used specifically to

refer to the generation of electricity from sunlight.

Cells are described as photovoltaic cells when the light source is not necessarily sunlight

(lamplight,artificial light etc). These are used for detecting light or other electromagnetic

radiation near the visible range, for example infrared detectors, or measurement of light

intensity.



200-fold boost in fuel cell efficiency advances

´personalized energy systemsµMedia Contact

During the meeting, Aug. 22-26, the contacts can be reached at:

617-954-3522

Michael Bernstein

202-872-6042

[email protected]

Michael Woods

202-872-6293

[email protected]

Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the

American Chemical Society

BOSTON, Aug. 23, 2010 ³ The era of personalized energy systems ³ in which individual

homes and small businesses produce their own energy for heating, cooling and powering

cars ³ took another step toward reality today as scientists reported discovery of a powerful

new catalyst that is a key element in such a system. They described the advance, which

could help free homes and business from dependence on the electric company and the



corner gasoline station, at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society,

being held here this week.

´Our goal is to make each home its own power station,µ said study leader Daniel Nocera,

Ph.D. ´We·re working toward development of ¶personalized· energy units that can be

manufactured, distributed and installed inexpensively. There certainly are major obstacles to

be overcome ³ existing fuel cells and solar cells must be improved, for instance.

Nevertheless, one can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an

affordable basic system.µ

A new catalyst could help speed development of

inexpensive home-brewed solar energy systems

for powering homes and plug-in cars during the

day (left) and for producing electricity from a fuel

cell at night (right).Credit: Patrick Gillooly/MIT Such a system would consist of rooftop solar energy panels to produce electricity for

heating, cooking, lighting, and to charge the batteries on the homeowners· electric cars.

Surplus electricity would go to an ´electrolyzer,µ

a device that breaks down ordinary water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen.

Both would be stored in tanks. In the dark of night, when the solar panels cease production,

the system would shift gears, feeding the stored hydrogen and oxygen into a fuel cell that

produces electricity (and clean drinking water as a byproduct). Such a system would

produce clean electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week ³ even when the sun isn·t

shining.

Nocera·s report focused on the electrolyzer, which needs catalysts ³ materials that jump

start chemical reactions like the ones that break water up into hydrogen and oxygen. He is

with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. Good catalysts already

are available for the part of the electrolyzer that produces hydrogen. Lacking, however, have



been inexpensive, long-lasting catalysts for the production of oxygen. The new catalyst fills

that gap and boosts oxygen production by 200-fold. It eliminates the need for expensive

platinum catalysts and potentially toxic chemicals used in making them.

The new catalyst has been licensed to Sun Catalytix, which envisions developing safe, super-

efficient versions of the electrolyzer, suitable for homes and small businesses, within two

years.

The National Science Foundation and the Chesonis Family Foundation provided funding for

this study. Nocera did the research with post-doctoral researcher Mircea Dinca and doctoral

candidate Yogesh Surendranath. The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research

Projects Agency has recently awarded the team with a grant, which it plans to use to search

for related compounds that can further increase the efficiency of its electrolyzer technology.

The team hopes that nickel-borate belongs to a family of compounds that can be optimized

for super-efficient, long-term energy storage technologies.

High-Efficiency Solar Cells Getting More Efficient,

Cheaper

FEBRUARY 17, 2011 BY ZACHARY SHAHAN 12 COMMENTS

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Solar Junction is a 4-year-old company spun out of Stanford University that designs

high-efficiency, multi-junction solar cells for concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) solar

collectors. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently certified that

its solar cells can operate at 40.9% efficiency, a significantly higher efficiency than



typical silicon solar cells that convert sunlight to electricity at an efficiency of about

15-20%.

Multi-Junction Solar Cells

How do these ³multi-junction´ solar cells convert sunlight into electricity so

efficiently? They use ³different materials than the traditional silicon cell and multiple

semiconductors within a single package.´

³In essence, you have three basic subcell materials that take in some light and pass

the rest to the next. They are connected serially inside the device just like battery

cells,´ Solar Junction co-founder Craig Stauffer explains.

The technology isn¶t actually new, but it ³hasn¶t become as established or widely

used for wholesale electricity production as regular flat solar panels´ due to the cells¶complexity and price. However, Stauffer says the costs are coming down due to

efficiency improvements and higher concentration levels. ³CPV solar collectors can

now concentrate light 1,000 times, compared to 500 times in the past year or two,´

and Stauffer thinks Solar Junction¶s solar cells will achieve efficiencies of over 50%

in the next five years.

Solar Junction expects to begin production of its multi-junction solar cells sometime

in early 2012 in San Jose, California. The company is currently waiting for a decision

from the Department of Energy regarding an $80-million loan, ³which would give it

favorable financing to expand its current demonstration plant to produce 250

megawatts worth of cells per year.´



Solar Junction Not Alone

Along with Solar Junction, other companies are working fast to develop this

technology as well. Spire Semiconductor reportedly set a new world record for solar

cell efficiency in October 2010. Working with the US National Renewable Energy

Laboratory (NREL) under an 18 month incubator project, the company produced a³triple-junction cell´ that has apparently achieved a 42.3% conversion efficiency.

Other companies have been working on this technology with great success as well.

³That figure beats the previous best of 41.6 per cent, set by Spectrolab last year,

after the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (ISE) had achieved 41.1 per cent in

early 2009, and maintains the steady increase in ³champion´ multi-junction cell

performance seen over the past couple of decades.´

Conversion efficiency of solar cells is very important for these solar technologies

because the cells are a large proportion of the system cost.

Spire also says that its solar cell technology is now ready for production, ³with

immediate commercial availability.´

Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/12tlo)





New and Renewable Routes to Solar Hydrogen

A project exploring sustainable routes to hydrogenproduction



The UK, together with the international community,is acutely aware of the problems arising from the

unsustainable use of fossil fuels, and is increasingly

focusing on the development of zero-carbon

emission fuels, particularly hydrogen, usingrenewable energy sources.

Of the renewable energy sources under

consideration, solar energy is the most abundant and, if harvestedefficiently, is capable of meeting global energy needs for the foreseeable

future. Much solar energy research is focused on its direct conversion to

electricity in photovoltaic devices, or on its direct conversion to heat insolar thermal devices. A major barrier to all these 'conventional' routes is

their prohibitive cost. Here, we propose to exploit low temperature

natural biological and photocatalytic processes to develop alternative,and cost effective, methods for harvesting solar energy to produce

renewable hydrogen fuels directly, and to explore how these could be

embedded within novel, integrated energy production systems,incorporating fuel cell and hydrogen storage technology.

The successful scale-up of these solar energy-driven renewable

hydrogen generation processes would transform the supply of carbon-less fuel and make an enormous impact on the viability of hydrogen asan energy carrier. It will convert the potential to produce hydrogen in a

carbon-free, renewable way into a process reality, and is an essential

step on the route to fully exploiting fuel cell technology. It will position theUK as a world leader in one of the very few solutions to a truly

sustainable energy future. As such, the impact is wide ranging,scientifically, technologically and commercially.

Spanning five years, the £4.2M project aims tosignificantly increase the efficiency of solar driven

hydrogen production processes, integrating

science and engineering to deliver a prototypereactor for domestic and industrial use. This will

create a unique facility, which the team hopes will



place Imperial College and the UK at the forefront of renewablehydrogen production, both for the UK¶s own future clean energy supplyand also for the sustainable exploitation of hydrogen energy worldwide.

The project aims to develop materials and technologies for the enhancedproduction of hydrogen from water using solar energy to drive theprocess. The biological process will optimise bio-hydrogen production

from a green alga that is closely related to higher plants. The oxygen

and hydrogen produced will then be separated and the hydrogen stored,ready for use in a fuel cell. The chemical process will use photo-

electrodes to directly split water into molecular oxygen and hydrogen

using both inorganic electrodes and molecular catalysts whose functionwill mimic the water oxidation enzyme of plant photosynthesis.

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Debut of the First Practical