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'The Artificial Leaf' Can Power the World
Green Technology Featured Articles
June 04, 2013

'The Artificial Leaf' Can Power the World

By Ed Silverstein
TMCnet Contributor

Sunlight (News - Alert) plus water can power the Earth. So says a film “The Artificial Leaf.”


The idea goes back at least to 1912. Photosynthesis has worked like that for billions of years.

Now, scientists have come up with an artificial kind of leaf that operates similar to natural photosynthesis.

“We figured out how to make catalysts that fix themselves,” the film says. “The self-healing part is actually the key.”

The artificial leaf can power autos or residences by using sunlight and water.

“This is not some far-off idea of the future. It's reality, and the subject of a jury-prize-winning film in the GE Focus Forward Film Competition,” stated a report from ABC News. “Jared P. Scott and Kelly Nyks' short film, "The Artificial Leaf," showcases chemist Daniel Nocera, the inventor of the artificial leaf, a device that he says “can power the world.”

Nocera has gotten a lot of respect from his scientific peers. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His Nocera laboratory at Harvard focuses on the “basic mechanisms of energy conversion in biology and chemistry.”

In regards to his research, Nocera's leaf is a silicon wafer. It is covered with catalysts. They “use sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen components,” ABC News said. Gases then produce electricity, and it becomes an economical solution.

“The artificial leaf is cheaper than solar panels but still expensive,” ABC News added in the report. “Hydrogen from a solar panel and electrolysis unit can currently be made for about $7 per kilogram; the artificial leaf would come in at $6.50.”

In addition, Nocera wants to lower costs so that the technology becomes available to many people.

“He recently replaced the platinum catalyst that produces hydrogen gas with a less-expensive nickel-molybdenum-zinc compound,” ABC News explained. “He's also looking for ways to reduce the amount of silicon needed.”




Edited by Rich Steeves


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