1 May 2004

Flower power

ASK a biologist and a renewable energy researcher to come up with a list of the most important chemical reactions in the world, and the chances are their lists would not have much in common. But one reaction would undoubtedly be near the top of both: the light-driven splitting of water molecules into oxygen, hydrogen ions and electrons.

This is the heartbeat of photosynthesis, the process by which plants, algae and cyanobacteria capture energy from sunlight and fix it into sugars. Both researchers would have good reason to choose it. The biologist would point out that the …


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