[Marxism] "Major Discovery" From MIT Primed to Unleash Solar Revolution

[Les Schaffer]

Dbachmozart at aol.com wrote:
> "Major Discovery" From MIT Primed to Unleash Solar  Revolution  
>   

god, i love MIT ...

the galaxy-shaking discovery is related to *storage* of energy. you 
still have to collect that energy at the energy densities available here 
on our earth...

makes nice newsprint though...

Les





In Situ Formation of an Oxygen-Evolving Catalyst in Neutral Water 
Containing Phosphate and Co2+
Matthew W. Kanan 1 and Daniel G. Nocera 1*

1 Department of Chemistry, 6-335, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
Cambridge, MA 02139–4307, USA.


The utilization of solar energy on a large scale requires its storage. 
In natural photosynthesis, energy from sunlight is used to rearrange the 
bonds of water to O2 and H2-equivalents. The realization of artificial 
systems that perform similar "water splitting" requires catalysts that 
produce O2 from water without the need for excessive driving potentials. 
Here, we report such a catalyst that forms upon the oxidative 
polarization of an inert indium tin oxide electrode in 
phosphate-buffered water containing Co2+. A variety of analytical 
techniques indicates the presence of phosphate in an approximate 1:2 
ratio with cobalt in this material. The pH dependence of the catalytic 
activity also implicates HPO42– as the proton acceptor in the 
O2-producing reaction. This catalyst not only forms in situ from 
earth-abundant materials but also operates in neutral water under 
ambient conditions.