Dec 18 2009
The ACS’ Inorganic Chemistry, a bi-weekly journal, published a report on solar energy that was written by an international expert. This report highlighted that the society is moving toward an era of “personalized solar energy” and the focus of energy production is changing from central generating stations to electricity production in communities and individual homes. This report describes a method to store solar energy that can later be used to plug-in cars and power individual homes which in turn will provide a clean environment.
According to Daniel Nocera the need for energy at a global level will double by mid-century and the demand will be three times by the year 2010 as a result of the increasing standards of living. Nocera suggests that this demand for energy can be fulfilled by capturing and storing solar energy at individual homes and this will be lot more beneficial in the poverty-stricken areas all over the world.
The report also describes an innovative oxygen-evolving catalyst that helps in separating water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen which is turned into fuel that is used in a fuel cell for producing electricity. This is quite similar to the method of photosynthesis that enables plants to produce clean energy from water and sunlight.
Source: http://pubs.acs.org