





I. Growing a Solar "Tree"











II. Connecting the Quantum Dots








Comments     Threshold


what's the catch?
By superPC on 3/29/2011 9:37:31 AM , Rating: 3
come on there's got to be a catch here. this is too good to be true. use some special materials plus sunlight and water and presto instant hydrogen? how about those catalyst? won't they degrade and need replacement? or the structure on the silicone? don't they require replacement? i have to admit the youtube video ( ) looks really promising.

and fuel cell? why use expensive fuel cell when you can create hydrogen out of water efficiently? just burn the gas in generators or ICE.

RE: what's the catch?
By mtcoder on 3/29/2011 10:21:52 AM , Rating: 2
Problem is just that burning generates heat, which has to be dealt with, not to mention you lose a ton of energy due to the heat lose if you don't capture and utilize the heat. That is where fuel cells start to come into play, they do the conversion much more effectively. Also don't worry there are a few new fuel cells that are in works for home use. They utilize the heat waste to heat house hold water tanks, and to power radiator style heat systems, when its cold. They also use it to create excess steam for self contained generators. So fuel cells are starting to come way down in cost, way up in safety, and very much so in efficiency.

The leaf would probably last a very long time actually if blocked from harmful elements. I would envision them similar to solar panels, they do the same function basically just at a level / system a kin to nature, using low cost materials.
Granted not as low cost as nature has managed, but still lower costs. Think about a house "plant" that set in a snow globe like bubble in the window that generated enough power to run your TV. Put a few in each room and you start to reduce your power costs greatly.

Now do I see them being made into plant shaped items? not really, though who knows. LOL I do see them though as improved solar cells.

RE: what's the catch?
By AnnihilatorX on 3/29/2011 1:04:13 PM , Rating: 3
Fuel cells can be scaled both up and down, ICE can't.
Small scale solar power generation is what we need. Localised power generation is much more attractive prospect than centralised solar farms.

Catalysts are, in essence, called catalyst because they are not consumed nor degrade, within operation life of a product. If you are using a material which degrades quickily, it's not fit for purpose to be called a catalyst. In application like this, facilating electrons transfer of energy, is not so energy intensive, I don't see how it will be a problem to the integrity any catalyst material.

RE: what's the catch?
By BruceLeet on 3/29/2011 3:03:27 PM , Rating: 3
Patents, its always the catch.

RE: what's the catch?
By Solandri on 3/29/2011 5:11:28 PM , Rating: 2
The catch is that right now only about 5.5% of the energy in the sunlight is diverted into generating hydrogen. To give you an idea how low that is, photosynthesis in sugar cane is about 7%-8% efficient.

The end product is of course sugar and cellulose (sugar molecules linked together) instead of hydrogen gas. But sugar is a helluva lot more compact and a more transportable energy storage medium than gaseous hydrogen. You can even ferment it to convert it into alcohols, which you can then use as a liquid fuel. That's what biofuels are. The best part is - it costs nothing to build. Plants and algae are self-constructing and self-replicating.

This will be a good invention if they can get the efficiency up above maybe 20%. But as it stands right now, it's inferior to biofuels and burning wood.

RE: what's the catch?
By rs2 on 3/29/2011 11:21:51 PM , Rating: 4

Self-constructing so long as the required raw materials are available from the environment in sufficient quantities for the plant to replicate and grow. For large scale operations the cost of replenishing these raw materials (typically in the form of fertilizer), while generally manageable, is certainly not "nothing".

Still I like the idea of using nature to produce the things we need. But plants aren't some magic entity that create themselves out of nothing but light and air as you made it sound.

