(Source: California Institute of Technology) Researchers around the world are trying to develop solar-driven generators that can split water, yielding hydrogen gas that could be used as clean fuel. Such a device requires efficient light-absorbing materials that attract and hold sunlight to drive the chemical reactions involved in water splitting. Semiconductors like silicon and gallium arsenide are excellent light absorbers-as is clear from their widespread use in solar panels. However, these materials rust when submerged in the type of water solutions found in such systems. Now Caltech researchers at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) have devised a method for protecting...
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