In the ongoing pursuit of abundant, renewable
alternatives to fossil fuels, scientists have produced hydrogen for fuel cells
through artificial photosynthesis, which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Solar panel material research proves that there is a
huge potential in new solar panel
technology, which can produce electricity and hydrogen at a time. This will
increase effectiveness and efficiency of the panel by generating additional
energy in an environmentally friendly way. It’s also believed that hydrogen
will be the clean energy source of the future.
Traditional processes have struggled to use optical,
electronic and chemical properties in a way that makes this method efficient,
but now researchers from Berkeley Lab have created a recipe that could
completely bypass the limitations in current materials.
This new solar
panel technology is based on synthetic Nano-crystals: one is rod-shaped and
produces hydrogen by photo catalysis (if the panel is submerged) while the
second is photovoltaic (produces electricity from light).
The research is on developing stage. Although its innovator
believes that this technology can be marked and mass-produced. If this method
becomes successful, it will be a great alternative to recent solar energy
gathering methods. Energy storage has always been a big challenge for creating
reliable and clean energy. Many options are applied, like batteries or even dam
for water storage.
Now the team has the basics down, it says it plans to
continue improving the device as well as investigate real-world applications
for it. Of course, the design does beg the question, why not just store the
extra energy in a battery instead of making hydrogen?
Batteries are expensive, is one answer, but fuel cells
aren't cheap either. Regardless, hydrogen is going to play a big role in the
world's future energy mix, so any steps to improve the efficiency of its
harvesting now is good news for later on.
Numerous researches taking place in the world to
produce clean energy. The production of hydrogen sounds great, especially when
everyone likes clean energy other than existing systems.
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