Australian, Chinese researchers make breakthrough in renewable energy materials

A group of Australian and Chinese researchers have made a ground-breaking discovery which could revolutionize solar energy.

Max Lu, professor at the University of Queensland (UQ)’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), said here Thursday they were one step closer to the holy grail of cost-effective solar energy with their discovery..

“We have grown the world’s first titanium oxide single crystals with large amounts of reactive surfaces, something that was predicted as almost impossible,” Lu told Xinhua.

“Titania nano-crystals are promising materials for cost-effective solar cells, hydrogen production from splitting water, and solar decontamination of pollutants,” he said

He said what his team has done was to make such materials “easy and cheap.”

Xinhua