Plants inspire new green energy source

Issued: Thu, 02 May 2013 12:24:00 BST

The process by which plants convert energy from the Sun’s rays into chemical ‘fuel’ has helped Glasgow scientists to find a new way of generating clean hydrogen power.

Unlike power produced by burning fossil fuels, hydrogen can be burned to produce power with no negative impact on the environment. It is currently possible to produce the gas by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, but industrial processes to do this require expensive equipment and rigorous oversight to ensure that the gases do not mix, which can be dangerous.

Plants’ powers of photosynthesis allow them to harness the energy of the Sun to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen at separate times and at separate physical locations in the plant’s structure.

For the first time, Professor Lee Cronin and Dr Mark Symes have managed to replicate plants’ ability to decouple the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water using what they call an electron-coupled proton buffer (ECPB). The ECPB is made from commercially available phosphomolybdic acid.

Dr Symes explains: ‘The properties of this material allow us to collect and store the protons and electrons that are generated when we oxidise water. We can then use those stored protons and electrons to produce only hydrogen at a time of our choosing without the difficulties of the current electrolytic process where oxygen is produced at the same time.’

Professor Cronin’s paper detailing the research is published in Nature Chemistry.