'Major Discovery' Primed To Unleash Solar Revolution

Science Daily - July 31, 2008


In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal,
boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have
overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use
when the sun doesn't shine. Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only
energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is
prohibitively expensive and grossly inefficient. With today's announcement,
MIT researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient
process for storing solar energy. Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic
natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free
energy source of all: the sun. "This is the nirvana of what we've been
talking about for years," said MIT's Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus
Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work
in the July 31 issue of Science. "Solar power has always been a limited,
far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited
and soon." Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and
Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed an
unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split
water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be
recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power
your house or your electric car, day or night. The key component in Nocera
and Kanan's new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from
water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas. The new catalyst
consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When
electricity - whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other
source - runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin
film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced. Combined with another
catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the
system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during
photosynthesis.

The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it's
easy to set up, Nocera said. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's
so easy to implement," he said. Sunlight has the greatest potential of any
power source to solve the world's energy problems, said Nocera. In one hour,
enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet's energy
needs for one year. James Barber, a leader in the study of photosynthesis
who was not involved in this research, called the discovery by Nocera and
Kanan a "giant leap" toward generating clean, carbon-free energy on a
massive scale. "This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the
future prosperity of humankind," said Barber, the Ernst Chain Professor of
Biochemistry at Imperial College London. "The importance of their discovery
cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new
technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil
fuels and addressing the global climate change problem." Currently available
electrolysers, which split water with electricity and are often used
industrially, are not suited for artificial photosynthesis because they are
very expensive and require a highly basic (non-benign) environment that has
little to do with the conditions under which photosynthesis operates. More
engineering work needs to be done to integrate the new scientific discovery
into existing photovoltaic systems, but Nocera said he is confident that
such systems will become a reality. "This is just the beginning," said
Nocera, principal investigator for the Solar Revolution Project funded by
the Chesonis Family Foundation and co-Director of the Eni-MIT Solar
Frontiers Centre. "The scientific community is really going to run with
this." Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to power
their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar
energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel
cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the
past. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation and by the
Chesonis Family Foundation, which gave MIT $10 million this spring to launch
the Solar Revolution Project, with a goal to make the large scale deployment
of solar energy within 10 years.



Well as much as this maybe true, like everything else that threatens the Oil
Conglomerates this will ultimately die a quiet death never to be heard of
again.



Redman


.

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