Hydrogen harvested using nature’s recipe

Researchers have split water into hydrogen and oxygen by replicating how plants use photosynthesis to make carbohydrates.

The team of Australian and US researchers says their findings, published in the latest Angewandte Chemie International Edition could lead to a cheap and easy way of making hydrogen, which many experts believe is the green fuel of the future.

Professor Leone Spiccia, of Monash University’s School of Chemistry says the team has mimicked the process of photosynthesis, whereby plants convert light and atmospheric carbon dioxide into energy.

[…] Manganese clusters are essential to a plant’s ability to use water, carbon dioxide and sunlight to make carbohydrates, Spiccia says.

However instead of creating carbohydrates, the team have used nature’s recipe to split water into its two elements, oxygen and hydrogen.

ABC Science