Scientists learn from nature to split water

An international team of researchers led by Monash University has used chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis paving the way to a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The breakthrough could revolutionise the renewable energy industry by making hydrogen – touted as the clean, green fuel of the future – cheaper and easier to produce on a commercial scale.

Professor Leone Spiccia, Mr Robin Brimblecombe and Dr Annette Koo from Monash University teamed with Dr Gerhard Swiegers at the CSIRO and Professor Charles Dismukes at Princeton University to develop a system comprising a coating that can be impregnated with a form of manganese, a chemical essential to sustaining photosynthesis in plant life.

"We have copied nature, taking the elements and mechanisms found in plant life that have evolved over 3 billion years and recreated one of those processes in the laboratory," Professor Spiccia said.

"A manganese cluster is central to a plant's ability to use water, carbon dioxide and sunlight to make carbohydrates and oxygen. Man-made mimics of this cluster were developed by Professor Charles Dismukes some time ago, and we've taken it a step further, harnessing the ability of these molecules to convert water into its component elements, oxygen and hydrogen," Professor Spiccia said.

"The breakthrough came when we coated a proton conductor, called Nafion, onto an anode to form a polymer membrane just a few micrometres thick, which acts as a host for the manganese clusters."

"Normally insoluble in water, when we bound the catalyst within the pores of the Nafion membrane, it was stabilised against decomposition and, importantly, water could reach the catalyst where it was oxidised on exposure to light."

http://www.physorg.com/news138179858.html

since the problem with solar electricity has always been what to do when there is no sun. Battery storage has always been problematic, with high initial cost and a limited lifetime necessitating expensive disposal/recycling.

Once we can manage a cost effective electrolysis process, hydrogen and oxygen generated through solar power during the day can be used to power a fuel cell at night. The front end cost will still be considerable, but the equipment lifespan will be lengthened and the disposal problem less drastic.

although even if they do use our drinking water, it is used over and over again as hydrogen and oxygen are recombined inside the fuel cell to produce the water from which they came.

While I may be recalling incorrectly, I believe that's considered a plant micro nutrient. Years ago I obtained a package of "trace element mix" that could be added to any macro-nutrient (NPK) fertilizer. On the label I believe it said not to use it on animal grazing land, because of its high manganese content. :tinfoilhat:

Edit: I just looked up the label of the product, and I was recalling incorrectly. The dangerous to ruminants micro ingredient was molybdenum.

"A lot of people don't even know what that is."
--Carl Spackler