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An energy discovery that will change the world

Eavesdropper

 
Sudden discoveries have lead to many different world changing technologies. For example, Penicillin came about through a cross contamination of two mold cultures in Dr. Alexander Flemings lab. X-rays were a surprise to researcher Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen for not putting a screen in front of a cathode ray tube he was studying. The list goes on and on.
 
The company SunCatalytix has made a discovery that has shown that the sun can be used to split water, and harvest the hydrogen. Researcher Daniel Nocera, from MIT, said that a jar of water could power a house. He also said that a swimming pool of water could meet the entire planet's electricity demand.
 
The idea works like photosynthesis. Sunlight gets absorbed and separates water. An artificial leaf made of Cobalt and Phosphate coated silicon is placed inside a jar of water, and the power output surpasses the best solar panel to date. It is discoveries like this that change the world. We will see more of this in the near future.
 
The Tata Group, a collection of companies that work to bring innovation to the world and the less fortunate, has partnered with SunCatalytix for an undisclosed amount. And they are receiving funding from other organizations to push the technology along.
 
See the SunCatalytix site for peer review links.
 
Eavesdropper
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  • in reply to Former Member

    Galane,

    Thanks for all the information. It is fascinating.

     

    E

  • Thermocouples are very inefficient at converting temperature  differentials to electricity. They're somewhat more efficient at using  electricity to create a temperature differential, but more heat is  produced on the hot side than is absorbed on the cold side. Peltier  modules can be stacked to achieve a higher temperature differential - up  to a point. Stack too many and the hot end of the stack will have bad  things happen to it from getting too hot.

     

    These junctions are used in stacks in RTG's or  Radioisotope Thermal Generators. (Originally called SNAP for System for  Nuclear Auxiliary Power.) They've been used on satellites and space  probes. Each of the Viking Mars landers had a pair of them, which is why  they lasted quite a bit longer than their design lifetimes.

     

    In  more recent years, photovoltaics have improved to the point where  they're better than an RTG for most uses in Mars orbit or closer to the  sun. Further out, an RTG can produce more power, but of course will  eventually cool to the point where there's not enough heat for the  thermocouples to produce a useful amount of electricity - but that's  over 30 years. The Voyager probes are over 33.5 years old and expected  to maintain some communication capability until 2025. The three RTGs on  each Voyager produced a total of 470 watts at launch. I dunno how much  that's gone down.

     

    RTGs have been used on Earth, mostly  in Soviet lighthouses and other remote navigation aids. A few idiots  have been severely injured or killed when they removed shielding from  them and used the toasty RTGs for heat instead of campfires. 'Course  those were *Soviet* versions. American RTGs have survived at least one  incident of a launch going bad, the rocket being blown up, fished out of  the Atlantic then refurbished and built into a new satellite. image

  • I wonder how this approach differs in efficiency from using thermocouples to generate the power needed to separate the H2 and O from the water?  Thermocouples would have the advantage of working with just heat and would be less constrained by non sunny days or cloud cover in warm climates.

    Just a thought.

    DAB

  • in reply to Former Member

    The simplicity and overall abundance of energy potential is the key. Using a fraction of the sun's "free" energy to separate water is at no cost to the user. Keep in mind, it takes the average solar panel 5 years to generate the amount of energy it took to create the panel itself. Fuel cell aside, MIT's solution is much cheaper. Now the goal is to perform this process at a massive scale.

     

     

    E

  • This sounds like a more efficient water electrolysis process. A great thing, but hardly revolutionary.