The scientists have suggested that the artificial leaf could be an inexpensive source of electricity used to power homes in developing countries.

When placed in a single gallon of water in bright sunlight, the device could produce enough electricity to supply a house in a developing country with electricity for a day. The device could be dropped into anything from a bucket of water to a puddle. In laboratory studies, the artificial leaf prototype operated continuously for 45 hours without a drop in activity.

The artificial leaf produces electricity by splitting water into its two components – hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen gases are then stored in a fuel cell, which uses the two materials to produce electricity. The fuel cell could be located on top of a house or beside it.

The artificial leaf is made from silicon, electronics and catalysts, which help to speed up chemical reactions. Unlike previous attempts to create an artificial leaf, this one is made of inexpensive, widely available materials. The catalysts are made of nickel and cobalt, which are highly efficient at splitting water into its two components.

According to the scientists, the leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural leaf. The scientists hope to boost the efficiency of the artificial leaf much higher in the future. Hopefully they’ll soon be able to manufacture the leaf for widespread use and help out millions of people who could use the electricity.

[Read]

Photo Prototype: Daily Mail

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The solar age is now a day closer thanks to Wladek Walukiewicz and Kin Man Yu at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who have developed a new full-spectrum solar cell that uses common production methods.

Cheap, common solar panels in production now typically only use a small percentage of the light hitting their surface, as the semiconductor materials in them only respond to certain segments of the solar spectrum. Though highly efficient solar panels that respond to the full spectrum of light have been created in the past, they’ve been unfit for mass production as they’re too complex and expensive to manufacture.

As each semiconductor reacts to a different light wavelength, efficient solar cells use several materials stacked atop one another and wired in a series, each semiconductor taking a portion of the light spectrum. In 2002, Walukiewicz and Man Yu tweaked indium gallium nitrate cells until they were capable of reacting to everything from infrared to ultraviolet — the full light spectrum. The resulting cells, however, were too difficult and costly to manufacture on a large scale.

Two years later, the pair created an alloy of zinc, manganese and tellurium doped with oxygen, creating an entirely different, highly efficient full-spectrum solar panel. But again, it was one unfit for production.

But now they’ve created a new multiband semiconductor alloy, gallium arsenide nitride, which uses the industry’s most common semiconductor fabrication method: metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Their tests show that the prototype cell based on this new semiconductor reacts strongly with every segment of the solar spectrum.

The results of the breakthrough may not be instant, but this is a large step towards cheap, highly-efficient solar panels and their wide-spread application. Beyond, you know, death rays and such.

[Gizmag]

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The lid of the Eco Freezer holds two led lamps which charge from the photocells, producing energy by dispensing the current via magnetic induction, which keeps the ‘cooler’ colder longer.

Both lamps used together creates the highest mode of cooling.  When using only one lamp to cool and one lamp to illuminate the Eco Freezer will switch to “low mode”, this will work fine if the freezer is not full.  The cooling system will stop working if both lamps are being used.  The lamps have three modes of illumination; On, S.O.S. and Flicker.

Oh yes,  and just plug it in to the cigarette lighter of your car to get a head start on your cool trip.  The designer is Ruben Igleslas.

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