A New Leaf of Technology

New technologies are constantly popping up. In the field of sustainability, there are a few people who are working on obtaining energy from plants- leaves to be specific. An artificial leaf, which is a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell, has been created to convert light from the sun into energetic electrons, which start off a chemical reaction splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. This process is basically mimicking photosynthesis, which is what allows plants to harness energy from the sun. 

One would take a small, light-collecting device, put it in water, and use solar energy to generate hydrogen gas to power a small fuel cell. When scaled up, the solar derived fuel cells would provide an energy storage solution for when there is no sunlight.

In a basic format, the way this leaf would work is that it will be submerged in water first. When the light reaches the device in the water, the gases bubble up from the water, which are used as fuel to produce electricity in the form of fuel cells. “This is the model: We’re going to have a very distributed energy system,” chemist Daniel Nocera told ABC News. With the leaf, “using just sunlight and water, you can be off the grid. If you’re poor, you don’t have a grid, so this gives them a way to have energy in the day and at night.”

For more information, check out this video and articles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J556uXwrjII

http://theenergycollective.com/tinacasey/225966/new-artificial-leaf-concept-could-blow-fuel-cell-market

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/06/chemist-hopes-artificial-leaf-can-power-civilization-using-photosynthesis/