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IPFS News Link • Science

Algal protein provides more efficient way to split water and produce hydrogen

• www.gizmag.com

Recently, scientists from the Swiss research institute EMPA, along with colleagues from the University of Basel and the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois took a cue from photosynthesis and discovered that by coupling a light-harvesting plant protein with their specially designed electrode, they could substantially boost the efficiency of photo-electrochemical cells used to split water and produce hydrogen - a huge step forward in the search for clean, truly green power.

Until the discovery of deep sea life forms that thrive in lightless hyrothermal vents, photosynthesis was considered the engine that drives all life on Earth. For those of us not dwelling in the chilly depths, that's still pretty much true - plants use solar energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to build sugars for energy storage (food for us) and structure (wood for heat and shelter) - the ultimate in green. Somewhere in that cascade of reactions, water is quickly and efficiently split into hydrogen and oxygen - a property understandably of great interest to proponents of clean energy.

If you're not a plant, one way to break water into its components is through the process many of us learned about in high school science class - electrolysis, the energy for which can be cleanly supplied by photovoltaic cells or hydroelectric power. Another technique, the focus of the Swiss/US collaborators, uses photo-electrochemical cells (PEC), which employ light energy to directly cleave water electrochemically - a process that skips the step of converting the light to electricity first.

 

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