Image: Angewandte Chemie, Wiley
Sunlight + Water = Hydrogen Gas
Scientists at the University of East Anglia, led by Dr. Thomas Nann, report a breakthrough in the production of hydrogen from water using the energy of sunlight. Amidst all the hype about a potential hydrogen economy, which would rely upon the highly energetic and clean burning hydrogen atom, one of the big questions has been whether sufficient hydrogen can be produced without using yet more energy to create the hydrogen. Typical production methods include stripping hydrogen from other fuels like methane or using electrolysis to split the hydrogen out of water. But with efficiencies between 20 and 40% for producing energy from traditional photovoltaic processes, the hydrogen economy cannot be solar powered. Or can it?
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