Pioneering Process Could Revolutionize Solar Power Usage

The usage of solar power has taken a new leap after British scientists found a breakthrough of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. The altering of the photosynthetic machinery in plants assisted them in achieving this groundbreaking development.

Photosynthesis is an important reaction in which plants convert sunlight into energy. The process breaks down oxygen as a by-product. In addition, the hydrogen is produced when the water split could prove to be a green and unlimited source of renewable energy.

The new study, contributed by scientists of University of Cambridge led by St. John’s College used semi-artificial photosynthesis in the quest of new ways to produce and store solar energy. The researchers used a mix of contemporary technologies and biological components to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen from natural sunlight.

The original platform to reach unassisted solar-driven water splitting was developed in Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry at the Reisner Laboratory. The key findings of the research could transform the systems used for renewable energy.

In the past, the scaling process of renewable energy created through artificial photosynthesis for industrial usage did not yield good results. This was due to the catalysts used in the process, which was found to be expensive and toxic. To overcome this limitation the Cambridge researchers used enzymes to create the desired result.

Katarzyna Sokól, lead author and PhD student at St John’s College along with her team decided to reactivate a process in the algae, which has been dormant for quite some time. It is expected that the findings could help other researchers to develop innovative model systems for solar energy conversion.

Sokól reiterated that the research findings could lead to the emergence of more robust solar technology. She added that the method can be used to couple other reactions together to see what can be done, learn from the reactions and then develop a synthetic, more robust solar energy technology.

The model is reportedly the first to use hydrogenase and photosystem II successfully to develop semi-artificial photosynthesis driven purely by solar power. Nature Energy journal also published this breakthrough research.