The leaf's ability to convert sunlight and water into storable
fuel makes it the ultimate in solar energy. Now researchers say
they have found a way to mimic this seemingly simple feat. The
technology developed by Dan Nocera of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and colleagues could eventually power a
house and bring electricity to the developing world with little
more than a chip sunk into a bucket of water. The device could
even store the energy for when the sun isn't shining. The new
technology copies the process of photosynthesis in which the
sun's energy liberates electrons in a leaf, which then split
water to form hydrogen and oxygen, providing stored energy for
the plant. "Whether you realize it or not, leaves are buzzing
with electricity," Nocera said. "They just don't have any wires
in them." The leaves need two catalysts to make this reaction
work, and similarly, so do the solar cells. Nocera's
breakthrough is in finding two affordable catalysts that can do
the reaction. The sunlight is captu