Solar Energy Breakthrough: A Giant Leap in Technology

A major breakthrough in solar energy technology will soon allow mankind to draw abundant, inexpensive energy from non-carbon sources, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have announced.

One of the most difficult problems associated with solar-electric power generation has been solved. By combining solar energy with fuel-cell technology, the energy derived from the sun can be stored efficiently to produce a constant flow of electrical energy, even at at night or on overcast days.

Fuel cells operate by combining oxygen and hydrogen gas into water. The reaction as the gasses combine is harnessed by the fuel cell and transformed into electrical energy and heat.

The scientists at MIT, Dr. Daniel Nocera and his assistant Matthew Kanan have developed a new process to split oxygen atoms from the bond of hydrogen and oxygen that forms the water molecule. Nocera's process employs an electrode with elements comprised of cobalt and phosphate. The electrode is immersed in water, and an electrical current is applied. Oxygen gas is generated by the catalytic action of the electrode.

The oxygen gas can then be stored in containers for future use as one of the components needed for fuel cell operation. The other component, hydrogen gas, can be obtained using another process, currently available, that can separate hydrogen atoms from the water molecule, by means of an electrode with a platinum element.

With stores of oxygen and hydrogen, fuel cells can be operated at any time, night or day, on a continuous basis. One of the unique features of a fuel cell is that the byproduct of the process is water, so an enclosed system of cyclical processes could be engineered to manufacture inexpensive, non-chemically polluting energy.

An enclosed system, proposed by the author, could be set up as follows: Solar energy panels produce electricity that is used to separate both oxygen and hydrogen gasses from water. Stores of the two gasses are used to operate the fuel cells to generate electricity when sunlight is unavailable. The resulting byproduct of water from the fuel cells is then channeled back to the catalytic chambers, where the gasses are separated again for re-use by the fuel cells. The enclosed process would need only solar rays as the primary energy source. The materials used for such a system are common and the setup would be relatively simple from an engineering standpoint.(Refer to accompanying diagram)

The process to separate oxygen from water, invented by Nocera and Kanan, has had an enthusiastic reception by other experts in the field. James Barber, Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College in London, who is a lead researcher of photosynthesis, called it a "giant leap" toward the mass production of clean, carbon-free electrical energy, with tremendous implications for the future prosperity of humankind. The discovery will allow development of new technologies to produce energy without a reliance on fossil fuel, and help mitigate the effects of global warming.