Here is the latest American Chemical Society (ACS) News Service Weekly press package (PressPac) with reports selected from 35 major peer-reviewed journals and Chemical & Engineering News.
Weekly PressPac ALL CONTENT IS FOR IMMEDIATE USE EXCEPT ARTICLE #5 (EMBARGOED FOR 9 A.M., EASTERN TIME, DEC. 4, 2006)
In This Edition:
ARTICLE #1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Unprecedented efficiency in producing hydrogen from water
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Scientists are reporting a major advance in technology for water photooxidation using sunlight to produce clean-burning hydrogen fuel from ordinary water. Michael Gratzel and colleagues in Switzerland note that nature found this Holy Grail of modern energy independence 3 billion years ago, with the evolution of blue-green algae that use photosynthesis to split water into its components, hydrogen and oxygen.
Gratzel is namesake for the Gratzel Cell, a more-efficient solar cell that his group developed years ago. Solar cells produce electricity directly from sunlight. Their new research, scheduled for publication in the Dec. 13 issue of the weekly Journal of the American Chemical Society, reports development of a device that sets a new benchmark for efficiency in splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using visible light, which is ordinary sunlight.
Previously, the best water photooxidation technology had an exter
'"/>
Contact: Michael Woods
m_woods@acs.org
202-872-4400
American Chemical Society
4-Dec-2006