Sunlight + Water = Power
According to Jared Scott and Kelly Kykes in their video “The Artificial Leaf,” sunlight and water can be used to power the earth. When sunlight is used to rearrange the bonds of water or split water, hydrogen and oxygen are created, thereby storing sunlight as energy.
Widespread Research on the Artificial Leaf
At the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) at Berkeley Lab, researchers are attempting to develop artificial solar fuel generation technology. The goal is to create non-carbon-emitting and sustainable fuels using sunlight, water, and the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide as inputs.
JCAP was established by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Innovation Hub and “brings together more than 140 top scientists and researchers from the California Institute of Technology and its lead partner, Berkeley Lab, along with collaborators from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and the University of California campuses at Irvine and San Diego.” These researchers are investigating many paths to new energy sources, including the creation of artificial leafs.
IndustryTap has reported on the artificial leaf that Daniel Nocera described in the Kavli Foundation Innovations in Chemistry Lecture at the 245th American Chemical Society National Meeting in New Orleans in 2013. The talk begins at 16:25 if you want to skip the introduction.
In the private sector, companies such as General Electric are also developing the artificial leaf.
