EPFL's organic sheet splits water into hydrogen and oxygen with sunlight
A thin organic polymer film splits water with no external voltage, but its efficiency is still very small.
Scientists made a very thin sheet that turns water into two gases using only sunlight. Hydrogen gas could become a clean fuel. But the sheet is still weak, and it will not reach shops soon.
Hype check
Louder than it deserves. The real change is smaller.
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Why it matters
An idea that may one day make clean fuel from water and sunlight, but it is very far from a product.
Watch: no product soon, but a lovely idea.
The details
- Researchers at EPFL's LIMNO lab built an organic semiconductor sheet that splits water under simulated sunlight.
- The sheet ran for more than two hours with no external voltage.
- It produced hydrogen and oxygen in a 2 to 1 ratio.
- Solar-to-hydrogen efficiency is about 0.1%, too low for practical use.
- The results were published in Nature Energy.
Receipts
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