Photosynthesis in a beaker - Chemistry - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), June, 2003

In a step toward creating energy from sunlight, as plants do, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, have invented a compound that produces hydrogen gas with the help of a catalyst and a zap of light. Professor of chemistry Daniel Nocera and former MIT graduate student Alan Heyduk found that creating a molecule to replace a leaf--essentially, photosynthesis in a beaker--could provide a cheap, clean future energy source.

If scientists can make hydrogen, it could combine with the oxygen in the air to produce water. This is the process that fuel cells use to generate energy. Within fuel cells, which are being produced by various manufacturers for vehicles and buildings, it would take a photocatalyst and solar energy to start the reaction all over again from water.

The MIT researchers' ultimate goal was to trap the photon energy in a structurally well-defined molecule and control the subsequent reactions to convert light into hydrogen. Previously, the closest scientists have come to achieving this goal is to use photocatalysts that are solids, which need massive surface areas. "We have been seeking a future alternative fuel source by studying the principles that govern the conversion of photon energy into chemical potential," Nocera explains.