MIT researchers have developed a solar cell that can harness the sun, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. The so-called artificial leaf–a silicon solar cell with different catalytic materials bonded onto its two sides–needs no external wires or control circuits to operate. Placed in a container of water and exposed to sunlight, it quickly begins to generate streams of bubbles: oxygen bubbles from one side and hydrogen bubbles from the other. If in a container with a barrier to separate the two sides, the two streams of bubbles can be collected and stored, and used later to deliver power: i.e., by feeding them into a fuel cell that combines them once again into water while delivering an electric current. The device is made entirely of abundant, inexpensive materials–mostly silicon, cobalt and nickel–and works in ordinary water.
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