Why is it possible to break down water molecules

They now hope to find a similar biologically based method to perform the second half of the reaction: the production of hydrogen gas. In their initial half-reaction, hydrogen atoms from the water end up split into electrons and protons — and scientists want to combine these into hydrogen atoms and molecules. The scientists believe their findings are novel. While systems already exist to split water molecules and create hydrogen gas using electricity, which can be generated through solar panels, the MIT system powers the reaction directly through sunlight.

Though the research is in the early stages and a commercial product could be many years away, other scientists praised the research. Among the many techniques being investigated to generate clean energy, water splitting is a very promising one. In particular, water H 2 O can be split to obtain dihydrogen H 2 by using solar energy; this is known as photoelectrochemical water splitting. Dihydrogen can be used as clean fuel for other machines or to generate electricity, which means that improving our water-splitting techniques is a guaranteed way to reduce our carbon emissions and alleviate global warming.

How does photoelectrochemical water splitting work? In short, one way to do it is to use a certain type of semiconductor material, which is called the photoanode, and connect it to a small voltage source and a metal wire, which acts as the cathode. When exposed to sunlight, water is divided into its constituting atoms on these two ends; the constituent atoms recombine to form the useful H 2 and O 2 as a byproduct.

The crucial step here is finding stable, high-performance materials for the photoanode because the oxidation sub-step, which involves the formation of O 2 , is the most difficult one.

Unfortunately, most research has focused on a class of photoanodes called oxynitrides, which suffer from instability and degrade relatively quickly because they are prone to oxidize when illuminated by light. Feng Lin, an assistant professor of chemistry in the Virginia Tech College of Science, is focusing on energy storage and conversion research.

This work is part of a new study published in the journal Nature Catalysis that solves a key, fundamental barrier in the electrochemical water splitting process where the Lin Lab demonstrates a new technique to reassemble, revivify, and reuse a catalyst that allows for energy-efficient water splitting.

Chunguang Kuai, a former graduate student of Lin's, is first author of the study with Lin and co-authors chemistry graduate students Zhengrui Xu, Anyang Hu, and Zhijie Yang. The core idea of this study goes back to a subject in general chemistry classes: catalysts. These substances increase the rate of a reaction without being consumed in the chemical process.

One way a catalyst increases the reaction rate is by decreasing the amount of energy needed for the reaction to commence. Water may seem basic as a molecule made up of just three atoms, but the process of splitting it is quite difficult.

But Lin's lab has done so. Even moving one electron from a stable atom can be energy-intensive, but this reaction requires the transfer of four to oxidize oxygen to produce oxygen gas. In order to meet that high energy requirement, the Lin Lab introduces a common catalyst called mixed nickel iron hydroxide MNF to lower the threshold.

Water splitting reactions with MNF work well, but due to the high reactivity of MNF, it has a short lifespan and the catalytic performance decreases quickly. Lin and his team discovered a new technique that would allow for periodic reassembling to MNF's original state, thus allowing the process of splitting water to continue. The sun emits radiant energy, which is carried by light and other electromagnetic radiation as streams of photons. When radiant energy reaches a living system, two events can happen.

The radiant energy can convert to heat, or living systems can convert it to chemical energy. For example, a potato plant captures photons then converts the light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis, storing the chemical energy underground as carbohydrates. The carbohydrates in turn feed other living systems. Plants have evolved by using special structures within their cells to harness energy directly from sunlight. There are currently over , known species of plants which include angiosperms flowering trees and plants , gymnosperms conifers, Gingkos, and others , ferns, hornworts, liverworts, mosses, and green algae.

While most get energy through the process of photosynthesis, some are partially carnivores, feeding on the bodies of insects, and others are plant parasites, feeding entirely off of other plants.

Plants reproduce through fruits, seeds, spores, and even asexually. They evolved around million years ago and can now be found on every continent worldwide. The process of photosynthesis in plants involves a series of steps and reactions that use solar energy, water, and carbon dioxide to produce organic compounds and oxygen.