A new type of solar cell can convert liquid water into clean hydrogen fuel 10 times more effectively than any other technology, and uses 10,000 times less precious material in the process.

Invented by researchers in the Netherlands, the secret to these new prototype solar cells are gallium phosphide nanowires, which can split water into its hydrogen and oxygen components far more cheaply and efficiently than the batteries and semiconductor materials that have been used in the past.

The efficiency of solar cell technology has improved dramatically over the past decade, and is now providing Germany with at least half its national energy requirements. And earlier this year in the Netherlands, it was announced that a tiny, 70-metre stretch of road covered in solar cells generated enough electricity to power an household for a year.

Over the past few years, scientists have been figuring out how to take things one step further by using solar cells to produce both fuel and electricity. The dream is one day we’ll be using nothing but the boundless energy of the Sun to not only power our homes, but our cars, trains, and buses too.

Previous studies have shown that connecting an existing silicon solar cell to a water-splitting battery can produce hydrogen fuel, but it’s certainly not a cheap enough process to be a realistic alternative. The most promising option is using some kind of semiconductor material that can convert sunlight into an electrical charge while splitting water into useable components, like an all-in-one solar fuel cell, but semiconductor materials aren’t cheap either.

More here – http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-figure-out-how-to-make-solar-cells-produce-fuel-and-electricity

well we’ll see I think there have been too many miracle cures for making hydrogen that never eventuated

But it’s still worth pursuing. Very well worth it, I reckon.

Spiny Norman said:

The efficiency of solar cell technology has improved dramatically over the past decade, and is now providing Germany with at least half its national energy requirements.

Absolute poppycock.

I approve.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150717/ncomms8824/full/ncomms8824.html

About time some headway was made with hydrogen fuel from water

One problem with nanowires is durability.

This sounds unbelievably good..

Better even than the one I heard about the other day – using solar panels to power wind turbines.

mollwollfumble said:

One problem with nanowires is durability.

When they wear out there is very little to do so with.

Without going all Startrek is it possible to convert energy into matter, something simple say converting said energy into atoms of elements on a scale large enough to actually have usable quantities of these elements.

Crazy. I was just asking Judgemental the other day if this could be done. My brain must be in sync with technological progress.

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

One problem with nanowires is durability.

When they wear out there is very little to do so with.

I’m not saying that this technology won’t work. Better catalysts are always good. It’s just that faster chemistry on a big surface area means that the surfaces tend to get fouled very quickly, so it may require ultra-pure water. With ultra-pure water it may last a long enough time.

> Without going all Startrek is it possible to convert energy into matter, something simple say converting said energy into atoms of elements on a scale large enough to actually have usable quantities of these elements.

Nah, too Startreky, efficiencies are in the order of nanopercents.

More feasible is converting uranium through fission and neutron capture into matter that contains any or all stable elements. So for instance you could make a chair out of wood fabricated from nuclear waste.