‘Artificial leaf’ mimics photosynthesis, could power an entire house

March 28, 2011 By Jeffrey Van Camp

Scientists in Massachusetts have developed a working "artificial leaf" that uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, producing power.

The Holy Grail of science is to create something that may actually solve a major problem in the world and improve life for millions. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology think they have done exactly that. Led by Daniel Nocera, they have created an “artificial leaf,” or a new technology that uses solar cells to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, creating energy in the process.

“The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries,” said Nocera. “Our goal is to make each home its own power station. One can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology.”

The device itself is small, thin, and looks nothing like an actual leaf. About the size of a playing card, but thinner, it is made of silicon among other things. Placed inside a single gallon of water in bright sunlight, the device could theoretically produce enough electricity to power a house in a developing country for an entire day by storing the leftover hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell.

The idea has been bounced around for decades, but this marks the first time that one has been created that is affordable and actually works for more than a single day. The new artificial leaf is made of “inexpensive” materials and has been shown to operate for more than 45 hours without a “single drop” in activity. Hopefully developing villages won’t have to replace their artificial leaves every 45 hours. Though the artificial leaf is about 10 times better at photosynthesis than a traditional leaf, at least a real leaf will last a full year.

Don’t get too excited though; it may be a while before you can sprinkle a bucket of artificial leaves on your roof to power your home.

(Photo credit: Ed Holden)

Showing 13 comments

Miguel Miki Garcia at 11:01pm 8th April 2011 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190521265013&viewitem&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT#ht_928wt_1165
Claude Stark at 11:45pm 29th March 2011 Keeping my fingers crossed! Personally, I am hoping Lonnie Johnson and his JTEC takes off.
Miguel Oviedo Bonilla at 1:33pm 29th March 2011 The good thing about this invention is that it only separates the molecules, so it can use any type of water, from anywhere, even recycled water could be used, it does not have to be fresh water, if you use water from the ocean it will only have salt and other minerals as residue. This is a great invention and hopefully the oil companies don’t get a hold of it and it gets distributed all over the world because it will solve a lot of issues where it is difficult to get electricity.
Miguel Oviedo Bonilla at 1:33pm 29th March 2011 Oil makes a lot of the electricity in the "world", especially in developing countries where there is no gas (only United States produces electricity from natural gas, you should do your research even better "Anonymous") that is why this is targeted at developing countries where there is no need for 220 volts, only 110 volts, probably this “version” of the leaf only gives 110.
Claude Stark at 4:03am 29th March 2011 Sounds promising and hopeful but with the soon to be (it's actually happening right now) scarcity of fresh water, I don't think the under-developed countries like India and Africa are going to be using water for fuel. They will be needing to survive. We have all the technology to solve the world's energy needs now, but that's another long drawn out story and I don't have the time or the talent to type it.
1. Jeffrey Van Camp at 6:03am 29th March 2011 Very true. Good point. Water is becoming a major issue.
Anonymous at 11:49pm 28th March 2011 For the record. Natural gas prices are what set electricity costs, if those get too high coal sets the price. Oil has pretty much 0 to do with it. Do your research.
Bill at 8:32pm 28th March 2011 . . . This great invention will be sold to an oil billionaire and it will be shelved, never to be spoken of again. . . .
jack36 at 6:45pm 28th March 2011 Because of world economics, this technology will be placed on the very back burner of the technology stove. Big oil cannot allow this to progress until their corporations have a firm hold on controlling the use of this phenomenology. Oil currently controls the world and releasing any hold on that control will not happen in the near future. If we allotted "man on the moon" bucks to this program I suspect five years would yield an affordable product. However will big oil let that occur? I think not.
Garry1977 at 5:43pm 28th March 2011 Me too. I'm in Australia, my power bill was 900 bucks last time (for a three month period). The whole world could use this.
Vadim K at 12:05am 29th March 2011 more money into research of this, less into stupid wars at our expense
Travis at 12:37pm 28th March 2011 Why does this article seem to only mention poor and developing countries as users for this device? I would like a cost effective power alternative for my house here in the US. My power bill was $278 last month!
1. Barbara Wilson at 4:14am 29th March 2011 Notice that the article does not actually give any info about how much electricity is generated. The output is probably not high enough for a developed-country home. Many more developing coutries are also in the belt where sunlight is more plentiful.