Developed originally at North Carolina State University, the Artificial Leaf uses a water-gel infused with plant chlorophyll to generate electricity when stimulated by light, similar to the way real plants generate sugars from light. With electrodes coated with carbon materials, a high efficiency and inexpensive solar panels can be produced. NC State's Dr. Orlin Velev says, "we believe that the concept of biologically inspired 'soft' devices for generating electricity may in the future provide an alternative for the present-day solid-state technologies."
Inspired by this technology, Nanyang Technological University has set up laboratories to convert water to hydrogen fuel. NTU President Bertil Andersson will use Artificial Leaf tech to use solar energy to separate oxygen and hydrogen. He claims that conventional methods to do the same thing require large amounts of energy to convert. With the greater efficiencies of the Artificial Leaf, this is proving to be the cheapest method for creation of the fuel. In other words, using free energy to create expensive fuel. NTU is hoping to fuel hydrogen-powered vehicles in 3 to 5 years from now.
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