Photosynthesis Inspires "Green Fuel" Breakthrough by Brian
Thomas, M.S. * An international team of researchers has
developed the first man-made device capable of using sunlight to
split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which is a key process in
photosynthesis. The Monash University-led scientists, whose
research appears in the international edition of the scientific
journal Angewandte Chemie,1 were able to combine manganese atom
clusters with a proton-conducting material called Nafion. When
the conductor material was exposed to a combination of sunlight
and low-voltage electricity, the manganese—an element essential
to plant photosynthesis—interacted with water, causing it to
split into hydrogen gas, oxygen gas, and electrons. “The
breakthrough could revolutionise the renewable energy industry
by making hydrogen—touted as the clean, green fuel of the
future—cheaper and easier to produce on a commercial scale,”
stated a Monash University press release.2 The researchers took
their design cues from pre-existing p