Generating Fuel from Sunlight (VIDEO)
Caption
Generating fuel from sunlight: First, tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles get coated with a titanium dioxide (TiO2) shell. Next, scientists coat the nanoparticles with light-absorbing dye molecules that have dangling tethers. Then they add catalyst molecules that attach by their own tethers. In the final setup, sunlight excites the dye, kicking electrons from dye to nanoparticle shell, nanoparticle core, and then out of the electrode via a wire. The electron-deficient dye, in turn, grabs electrons from the catalyst. Once the catalyst has lost four electrons, it can steal four electrons from two water molecules, thereby splitting water into hydrogen ions and oxygen. At a second electrode, the hydrogen ions recombine with electrons to produce H2 -- hydrogen gas fuel.
Credit
Stony Brook University graduate student and study coauthor Lei Wang
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