In the past, the assumption was that only natural leaves were capable of photosynthesis. This has changed with the development of the first artificial leaf that was presented at the 241st meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, California.
Daniel Nocera, who has led the research team, believes that they were able to copy the natural process of photosynthesis on the said artificial leaf with the invention of this new solar cell that can likened to the size of a poker card.
Since their goal is to make every home, regardless of wherever it might be, its own power station, they are confident that it will not be long when places such as India and Africa, where affordability is its main concern, will also be able to use this technology to generate electricity.
While the concept of the ‘artificial leaf’ is not a new one, the truth is that this version is far more efficient although not bearing any semblance to the way natural leaves look. The original artificial leaf experienced problems in being highly unstable and expensive because it uses rarer metals, which makes the device inappropriate for wide scale use.
The new device, however, has circumvented these issues and is able to break water into hydrogen and oxygen by a simple process, and is touted to be ten times more efficient in carrying out the process of photosynthesis than a natural leaf.
With the understanding that nature is fueled by the process of photosynthesis, these scientists have reason to believe now that our world will be powered by this artificial leaf in the coming years.