Via Slash Gear
-----
Green plants use photosynthesis to convert
water and sunlight into energy used to help the plant grow. Scientists
have created the first practical artificial leaf that mimics the natural
process and holds promise for sustainable green energy. The key to this
practical artificial leaf is that unlike earlier devices it doesn’t use
expensive components in its construction.

The new artificial leaf is made from inexpensive materials and uses
low-cost engineering and manufacturing processes making it much more
practical. The artificial leaf has an component to collect sunlight
sandwich between two films that generate oxygen and hydrogen gas. When
the artificial leaf is placed into a jar of water and placed in
sunlight, it bubbles, releasing hydrogen that can be used by fuel cells
to make electricity. Previous designs needed expensive materials like
platinum along with expensive manufacturing processes.
The new artificial leaf replaces the costly platinum with a less
expensive nickel-molybdenum-zinc compound. The opposite side of the leaf
has a cobalt film that generates oxygen gas. The hope is that this sort
of device can be used to generate electricity for remote places that
are off the electrical grid. The tech could also be used to power all
sorts of devices including phones and more.
“Considering that it is the 6 billion nonlegacy users
that are driving the enormous increase in energy demand by midcentury, a
research target of delivering solar energy to the poor with discoveries
such as the artificial leaf provides global society its most direct
path to a sustainable energy future,” he says.