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    ‘Artificial leaf’ generates clean hydrogen from contaminated seawater

    September 17, 2026, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Biology/Biotechnology

    The device generates clean fuel and removes pollutants at the same time. Credit: NTU Singapore

    Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, have designed a device that harvests sunlight to generate clean hydrogen from seawater and simultaneously degrades hydrazine, a highly toxic contaminant from industrial wastewater.

    Inspired by leaves, the device directly captures sunlight and converts it into electricity to drive the reaction without the need for external power sources. The innovation is published in Nature Communications.

    Two-in-one green solution
    To produce green hydrogen from water, an electric current is passed through water between two electrodes, splitting the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen—a process known as electrolysis.

    In electrolysis, ...

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    Artificial Leaf goes more Efficient for Hydrogen generation

    January 5, 2017, Categories  Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Biology/Biotechnology, Environment/Geology, Physics, Technology/Electronics

    This is the newly-developed hetero-type dual photoelectrodes by Professor Jae Sung Lee and Professor Ji-Wook Jang's joint reserach team. Credit: UNIST

    This is the newly-developed hetero-type dual photoelectrodes by Professor Jae Sung Lee and Professor Ji-Wook Jang’s joint reserach team. Credit: UNIST

    An international team with UNIST has engineered a new artificial leaf that can convert sunlight into fuel with groundbreaking efficiency. In the study, the research presented a hetero-type dual photoelectrodes, in which 2 photoanodes of different bandgaps are connected in parallel for extended light harvesting. Their new artificial leaf mimics the natural process of underwater photosynthesis of aquatic plants to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which can be harvested for fuel.

    This study is expected to contribute greatly to the reduction and treatment of carbon dioxide emissions in accordance with the recent Paris Agreement on climate c...

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    Breakthrough Solar cell captures CO2 and Sunlight, produces burnable Fuel

    July 29, 2016, Categories  Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Physics

    Simulated sunlight powers a solar cell that converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into syngas. Credit: University of Illinois at Chicago/Jenny Fontaine

    Simulated sunlight powers a solar cell that converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into syngas. Credit: University of Illinois at Chicago/Jenny Fontaine

    1,000-fold improved chemistry leads to ‘artificial leaf’ that makes Syngas. A provisional patent application has been filed by the by University of Illinois researchers. Unlike conventional solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity that must be stored in heavy batteries, the new device essentially does the work of plants, converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into fuel, solving 2 crucial problems at once. A solar farm of such “artificial leaves” could remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and produce energy-dense fuel efficiently.

    “The new solar cell is not photovoltaic – it’s photosynthetic,” says Amin ...

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    New Artificial Leaf safely creates Fuel from Sunlight and Water with record Efficiency and Stability

    August 29, 2015, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Illustration of an efficient, robust and integrated solar-driven prototype featuring protected photoelectrochemical assembly coupled with oxygen and hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts. [View full size] Credit: Image provided courtesy of Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis; artwork by Darius Siwek. - See more at: http://www.caltech.edu/news/artificial-leaf-harnesses-sunlight-efficient-fuel-production-47635#sthash.l86JNzpe.dpuf

    Illustration of an efficient, robust and integrated solar-driven prototype featuring protected photoelectrochemical assembly coupled with oxygen and hydrogen evolution reaction catalysts. [View full size] Credit: Image provided courtesy of Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis; artwork by Darius Siwek. – See more at: http://www.caltech.edu/news/artificial-leaf-harnesses-sunlight-efficient-fuel-production-47635#sthash.l86JNzpe.dpuf

    The new Artificial Leaf JCAP system has 3 main components: 2 electrodes–one photoanode and one photocathode, and a membrane. The photoanode uses sunlight to oxidize water molecules, generating protons and electrons as well as oxygen gas. The photocathode recombines the protons and electrons to form H2...

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