Feb
11
Nitrogen Fertilizer Making Catalyst Powered by Sunlight
February 11, 2015 | 1 Comment
Northwestern University scientists are the first to develop a catalyst that can perform a remarkable feat found only in nature: take nitrogen from the air and turn it into ammonia under natural conditions. (Ammonia is the critical component in fertilizer.) If fully realized the process might displace more than 1 percent of world energy use. […]
Sep
30
Solar Powered Hydrogen Production Clears 12% Efficiency
September 30, 2014 | Leave a Comment
Scientists at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a new and efficient way of producing hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water. Connecting together solar cells made with a mineral called perovskite and the team’s low cost electrodes achieves a 12.3 percent conversion efficiency from solar energy to hydrogen. The profusion of tiny bubbles […]
Jun
19
A New Way to Make Hydrogen with Solar Power
June 19, 2014 | 1 Comment
Empa researchers have developed a photoelectrochemical cell made of cheap raw materials that recreates a moth’s eye to drastically increase its light collecting efficiency. World wide researchers are investigating solar cells using sunlight and water that imitate plant photosynthesis to create synthetic fuels such as hydrogen. The Empa cell is made of cheap raw materials […]
Jan
15
Solar Powered Hydrogen Production Gets a Great New Idea
January 15, 2014 | 2 Comments
Researchers led by Tom Meyer at the Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) have built a system that converts the sun’s solar energy into hydrogen fuel and stores it for later use. Meyer, Arey Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences said, “So […]
Dec
17
New Sunlight Powered Hydrogen Production From Water Idea
December 17, 2013 | Leave a Comment
University of Houston (UH) scientists have found a catalyst that can quickly generate hydrogen from water using sunlight’s solar power. The new technique involves the use of cobalt oxide nanoparticles to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The research paper has just been published online in Nature Nanotechnology, behind a paywall. Professor Jiming Bao, lead […]