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Offline Jah Gol

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Solar-Power Breakthrough
« on: August 02, 2008, 07:03:40 PM »
Researchers Have Found a Cheap and Easy Way to Store the Energy Made by Solar Power.
By KEVIN BULLIS

August 2, 2008 —

Researchers have made a major advance in inorganic chemistry that could lead to a cheap way to store energy from the sun. In so doing, they have solved one of the key problems in making solar energy a dominant source of electricity.

Daniel Nocera, a professor of chemistry at MIT, has developed a catalyst that can generate oxygen from a glass of water by splitting water molecules. The reaction frees hydrogen ions to make hydrogen gas. The catalyst, which is easy and cheap to make, could be used to generate vast amounts of hydrogen using sunlight to power the reactions. The hydrogen can then be burned or run through a fuel cell to generate electricity whenever it's needed, including when the sun isn't shining.

Solar power is ultimately limited by the fact that the solar cells only produce their peak output for a few hours each day. The proposed solution of using sunlight to split water, storing solar energy in the form of hydrogen, hasn't been practical because the reaction required too much energy, and suitable catalysts were too expensive or used extremely rare materials. Nocera's catalyst clears the way for cheap and abundant water-splitting technologies.

Nocera's advance represents a key discovery in an effort by many chemical research groups to create artificial photosynthesis--mimicking how plants use sunlight to split water to make usable energy. "This discovery is simply groundbreaking," says Karsten Meyer, a professor of chemistry at Friedrich Alexander University, in Germany. "Nocera has probably put a lot of researchers out of business." For solar power, Meyer says, "this is probably the most important single discovery of the century."

The new catalyst marks a radical departure from earlier attempts. Researchers, including Nocera, have tried to design molecular catalysts in which the location of each atom is precisely known and the catalyst is made to last as long as possible. The new catalyst, however, is amorphous--it doesn't have a regular structure--and it's relatively unstable, breaking down as it does its work. But the catalyst is able to constantly repair itself, so it can continue working.

In his experimental system, Nocera immerses an indium tin oxide electrode in water mixed with cobalt and potassium phosphate. He applies a voltage to the electrode, and cobalt, potassium, and phosphate accumulate on the electrode, forming the catalyst. The catalyst oxidizes the water to form oxygen gas and free hydrogen ions. At another electrode, this one coated with a platinum catalyst, hydrogen ions form hydrogen gas. As it works, the cobalt-based catalyst breaks down, but cobalt and potassium phosphate in the solution soon re-form on the electrode, repairing the catalyst.

Nocera created the catalyst as part of a research program whose goal was to develop artificial photosynthesis that works more efficiently than photosynthesis and produces useful fuels, such as hydrogen. Nocera has solved one of the most challenging parts of artificial photosynthesis: generating oxygen from water. Two more steps remain. One is replacing the expensive platinum catalyst for making hydrogen from hydrogen ions with a catalyst based on a cheap and abundant metal, as Nocera has done with the oxygen catalyst.

Finding a cheaper catalyst for making hydrogen shouldn't be too difficult, says John Turner, a principal investigator at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in Golden, CO. Indeed, Nocera says that he has promising new materials that might work, and other researchers also have likely candidates. The second remaining step in artificial photosynthesis is developing a material that absorbs sunlight, generating the electrons needed to power the water-splitting catalysts. That will allow Nocera's catalyst to run directly on sunlight; right now, it runs on electricity taken from an outlet.

There's also still much engineering work to be done before Nocera's catalyst is incorporated into commercial devices. It will, for example, be necessary to improve the rate at which his catalyst produces oxygen. Nocera and others are confident that the engineering can be done quickly because the catalyst is easy to make, allowing a lot of researchers to start working with it without delay. "The beauty of this system is, it's so simple that many people can immediately jump on it and make it better," says Thomas Moore, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Arizona State University.

Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures


Offline WestCoast

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2008, 08:16:59 PM »
nice one "Starsky"
I am awaiting more information on this
Whatever you do, do it to the purpose; do it thoroughly, not superficially. Go to the bottom of things. Any thing half done, or half known, is in my mind, neither done nor known at all. Nay, worse, for it often misleads.
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Offline Bakes

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2008, 10:23:22 PM »
Good stuff...hope it hits the mass market in the next couple years... well both of them, Hydrogen and Solar generators.

Offline dcs

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2008, 08:36:09 AM »

Interview

Splitting from the grid: MIT discovery could power solar revolution

Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system

Anne Trafton, News Office
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.

Daniel Nocera describes new process for storing solar energy
View video post on MIT TechTV

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.
'Giant leap' for clean energy

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."
'Just the beginning'

Currently available electrolyzers, 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 Center. "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.

The project is part of the MIT Energy Initiative, a program designed to help transform the global energy system to meet the needs of the future and to help build a bridge to that future by improving today's energy systems. MITEI Director Ernest Moniz, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, noted that "this discovery in the Nocera lab demonstrates that moving up the transformation of our energy supply system to one based on renewables will depend heavily on frontier basic science."
 
The success of the Nocera lab shows the impact of a mixture of funding sources - governments, philanthropy, and industry. 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.

Offline WestCoast

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2008, 10:14:37 AM »
nice post DCS
I hope dis eh no "flash in the pan" kinda ting
It is very exciting indeed
Whatever you do, do it to the purpose; do it thoroughly, not superficially. Go to the bottom of things. Any thing half done, or half known, is in my mind, neither done nor known at all. Nay, worse, for it often misleads.
Lord Chesterfield
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Offline kounty

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2008, 06:34:46 PM »
Quote
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.
I know it have better chemists on the site, but it don't seem to me like hydrogen and oxygen just going to naturally recombine on its own, in fact I know that you will need to add extra energy to do that ( that's why the sun is surrounded by helium and hydrogen right, the least energetic atoms).  which leads to the question of pollution, are we going to 'pollute' the atmosphere with hydrogen and oxygen instead of carbon dioxide? 

Offline WestCoast

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2008, 07:34:29 PM »
Quote
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.
I know it have better chemists on the site, but it don't seem to me like hydrogen and oxygen just going to naturally recombine on its own, in fact I know that you will need to add extra energy to do that ( that's why the sun is surrounded by helium and hydrogen right, the least energetic atoms).  which leads to the question of pollution, are we going to 'pollute' the atmosphere with hydrogen and oxygen instead of carbon dioxide? 
Bounty I had to smile
because when ya have two Hydrogen and one Oxygen ya does get some serious pollution :devil:


serious: I know what you mean
Whatever you do, do it to the purpose; do it thoroughly, not superficially. Go to the bottom of things. Any thing half done, or half known, is in my mind, neither done nor known at all. Nay, worse, for it often misleads.
Lord Chesterfield
(1694 - 1773)

Offline dcs

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2008, 10:41:05 PM »
lol

i eh know but i think "burning" hydrogen is just give u water and heat.  i dunno if it need more than a spark if the energy were to be released by combustion rather than through the fuel cell thing (that eh combustion right?...)
i eh even read the article properly

Offline ZANDOLIE

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2008, 12:27:59 AM »

Bounty I had to smile
because when ya have two Hydrogen and one Oxygen ya does get some serious pollution :devil:


serious: I know what you mean

Unfortunately it has recently been discovered that fuel cells release Dihydrogen Monoxide, a potent and potentially dangerous chemical. This is being found in VERY high concentrations in wetlands, rivers, marine habitats and even drinking water. I hear it even have plenty in Caroni Swamp! Here is a little write up on it.

Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. It can produce the highly reactive hydroxyl radical, a carcinogenic species shown to mutate DNA, denature proteins, disrupt cell membranes, and chemically alter critical neurotransmitters. The atomic components of DHMO are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

Environmental Impact of Dihydrogen Monoxide
Due in part to its widespread use in industry, Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is involved in many environmental incidents each year. While most are unavoidable given current technology, there can be little doubt that the presence of DHMO in each significantly increases the negative impact to the environment.

 
Among the many commonly-sited DHMO-related environmental impacts are: 

DHMO contributes to global warming and the "Greenhouse Effect", and is one of the so-called "greenhouse gasses."

DHMO is an "enabling component" of acid rain -- in the absence of sufficient quantities of DHMO, acid rain is not a problem.

DHMO is a causative agent in most instances of soil erosion -- sufficiently high levels of DHMO exacerbate the negative effects of soil erosion.

DHMO is present in high levels nearly every creek, stream, pond, river, lake and reservoir in North America and around the world.

Measurable levels of DHMO have been verified in ice samples taken from both the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps.

Recent massive DHMO exposures have lead to the loss of life and destruction of property in California, the Mid-West, the Philippines, and a number of islands in the Caribbean, to name just a few.
Research has shown that significant levels of DHMO were found in the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 which killed 230,000 in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere, making it the deadliest tsunami in recorded history.
It is widely believed that the levee failures, flooding and the widespread destruction resulting from Hurricane Katrina along the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005 were caused or exacerbated by excessive DHMO levels found in the Gulf of Mexico, along with other contributing factors.

Despite the danger industry continues to use dihydrogen monoxide
As an industrial solvent and coolant.
In nuclear power plants.
In the production of styrofoam.
Used EXTENSIVELY as a flame retardant in urban and forest settings.
Distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2008, 12:39:42 AM by ZANDOLIE »
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Offline ZANDOLIE

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2008, 01:04:58 AM »
Quote
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.
I know it have better chemists on the site, but it don't seem to me like hydrogen and oxygen just going to naturally recombine on its own, in fact I know that you will need to add extra energy to do that ( that's why the sun is surrounded by helium and hydrogen right, the least energetic atoms). which leads to the question of pollution, are we going to 'pollute' the atmosphere with hydrogen and oxygen instead of carbon dioxide?

Bounty recombination of O-, H+ and e- is energetically favourable/spontaenous.  The Energy is needed to separate the hydrogen into proton and electron at the anode of the fuel cell, and produce O- radical at the cathode. But me eh no fuell-cell expert, so I'm sure somebody more knowledgeable will correct me if that is wrong.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2008, 01:18:37 AM by ZANDOLIE »
Sacred cows make the best hamburger

Offline WestCoast

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2008, 02:06:45 AM »
Zandoh, you not easy today.........Dihydrogen Monoxide :rotfl: :rotfl: see BIG name, DAT is BIG name :D

For those who have a chemical imbalance I mean are Chemically Challenged, Check here or even here :devil:
« Last Edit: August 04, 2008, 02:29:13 AM by WestCoast »
Whatever you do, do it to the purpose; do it thoroughly, not superficially. Go to the bottom of things. Any thing half done, or half known, is in my mind, neither done nor known at all. Nay, worse, for it often misleads.
Lord Chesterfield
(1694 - 1773)

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #11 on: August 04, 2008, 11:54:30 AM »
Zandoh, you not easy today.........Dihydrogen Monoxide :rotfl: :rotfl: see BIG name, DAT is BIG name :D

For those who have a chemical imbalance I mean are Chemically Challenged, Check here or even here :devil:


DiHydrogen MonOxide is a much bigger green house gas than CO2, just watch the global warmists start to say we're putting too much water vapor in the air and causing more warming....


Offline kounty

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Re: Solar-Power Breakthrough
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2008, 03:04:32 PM »
Zandoh, you not easy today.........Dihydrogen Monoxide :rotfl: :rotfl: see BIG name, DAT is BIG name :D

For those who have a chemical imbalance I mean are Chemically Challenged, Check here or even here :devil:


DiHydrogen MonOxide is a much bigger green house gas than CO2, just watch the global warmists start to say we're putting too much water vapor in the air and causing more warming....


it goh be warm and muggy den  :devil:

 

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