Researchers in the United States have developed a method that helped them observe the sunlight-to-fuel conversion in real time, right down to the nanoscale.
The team of Yale researchers can now see how the light-driven catalyst splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, and how electrons and holes move through the material.
“We are excited because this method lets us see a photocatalyst ‘in action’ with an unusual combination of realism and resolution,” said Shu Hu, professor of chemical & environmental engineering, who led the study.
This overcomes a key limitation in the field, and could help improve technologies that use sunlight to produce clean fuels and chemicals. The work reveals the precise division between two chemical reactions — reduction and oxidation. This insight could pave the way for designing better solar-fuel materials, according to a press release.
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