'Artificial Leaf' Will Convert Sunlight into Fuel

This is wonderful news , folks. They could have a working model by, hopefully, within the next five years.
Now wouldn't this help our pocketbooks and cut out a lot of the price gouging, etc!? How I wish we had it now!

The technology is a "turbo-powered" version of photosynthesis, the natural process by which plants creates energy from sunlight, but uses electricity to spark the reaction.

Rather than producing carbohydrates, the end product is fuel which could be used in petrol engines to power cars and even aeroplanes, researchers said.

The Glasgow University scientists running the project expect to have fine-tuned the method within two years, and to have built a working model within five.

If used on a mass scale, the technology could supply a large quantity of the world's fuel needs and be used instead of oil when stock starts to run out, they said.

Please see full article here:
www.telegraph.co.uk...

Shouldn't this also help put a stop to the ''oil wars'' too? I can see how this truly could benefit mankind &
I hope they hurry!

I'll take 5 please. Anyone wanna buy a gasoline engine?

reply to post by LonelyGuy


Yeah lol.
I can see the whole world changing.
Forget the gas guzzlers, etc.

Let's just hope nothing happens to prevent this from coming to fruition.
Remember Tesla and his ideas...

Originally posted by SeekerLou
reply to post by LonelyGuy

 

Yeah lol.
I can see the whole world changing.
Forget the gas guzzlers, etc.

Let's just hope nothing happens to prevent this from coming to fruition.
Remember Tesla and his ideas...

I doubt TPTB will let this happen. By now you should be aware of what happens when people get "ideas." They either accidently drown themselves, or they suddenly "lose interest."

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


Agreed.
I pray that these scientists realize their need for armed guards and major security!

I would love to see the world changed.

Revo_Iution Baby!

What I don't get is why these people don't just release their designs and work on the Internet to be available for anyone. It's obvious from the past that very powerful people will do whatever they can to prevent things like this from coming to fruition.

If I discovered something like this, I would release it on the Internet. Hopefully people would thank me by donating to support me & my work

reply to post by SeekerLou


I am sticking my neck out now, but I'll continue in any case, at risk for being scalped by many people on ATS.
Some people might view it as being off-topic, but I don't think it is. I get tired of people viewing every new development that is in the news, as a conspiracy, when that new technology doesn't live up to its promises. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, and there is no way I would deny that some of the big players in the market play very dirty games too, but let me continue with my story.

I have been involved in research and Design and Development for a very long time. So many times you would hit on an idea, that seems fantastic, and everybody gets extremely excited by the "breakthrough", because on paper it would solve a lot of problems. But more often than not, somewhere in the line, from developing the design concept to an actually working device, that can be mass produced, you hit snags. Sometimes you overlook things in the concept, and you can't even get to a prototype. Sometimes you would get to the prototype stage, but in the processes after that, you would realize that it cannot be reproduced on a practical scale. Sometimes you run into a problem, that cannot be solved right now, you need another breakthrough in an area in which you have no expertise, and once somebody else makes that breakthrough for you, the rest of the path is easy.

Sometimes, many years after I showed something very feasible, and got lots of people so excited, and had a lot of money invested in it, but there was some unsolvable issue, many people would come to me and ask me what happened to that project that was so promising. And then I have to let my head down in shame and mumble that maybe I was just not good enough.... Some designers don't have it in them, they are scared of new areas, they just keep on designing and refining the things without risk, but some others, try to think outside the box. Sometimes it pays off, and sometimes it doesn't.

In most of those cases, there is no conspiracy involved. It is a case of running into real problems, that might or might not be solved in the next couple of years. In cases like that, there is no "pushing it", the technology will develop as soon as some other technologies that it is based upon is developed.

I guess it boils down to money. If I have a lot of money available, and I run into one of those engineering problems, then I can spend money on solving it. But in most R&D cases, you have to beg for money, and if the investors don't think it is feasible spending more money on a project that you as developer says "Well, maybe if we solve that problem, it will be smooth sailing from now on", they won't.

Most developers are not good salesmen. Lots of people told me that. We as engineers, always see issues with it, and when the marketing gurus takes over our projects, and give press releases, etc, it looks to the rest of the world as though the project is there, 100%. Us, as engineers know that the hardest part of the project is the last 1%, even though the concept is a good one.

Afterwords, the whole world view it as a conspiracy, that a seemingly good project didn't live up to its promises, but sometimes that is just what it is. The marketing people sold it as an already finished product, that is why they are marketing people, and the poor engineer has to try to keep up with the marketing people. (In there might be another conspiracy as well)

reply to post by mossme89


The motivating factor would be money, I'd assume.

. I'd share with the world too and help ASAP but the motivation factor for them must be otherwise.

If only more people were like you and me.
I'd give it away free too if I could!
-With ya on this, moss!

reply to post by Hellhound604


Thank you for sharing your R&D experiences. Bless you and you make total sense.
Understood - that when things fail, people tend to jump on the conspiracy wagon. I can see how this would happen also. So thank you ... maybe your post will help folk to have a bit more understanding now and won't be so fast to jump.

The OP article said this should be fine tuned within 2 yrs so we can still hope they get it fine tuned. Crossing fingers it will be done -then to have the working model available ASAP!

Again, appreciate your sharing how it goes down in the R&D with the marketers, etc!

.

reply to post by SeekerLou


I can tell you one more story. Once, when I worked for a company, I spent a long time developing this very novel (for them) industrial robot. When our company made the first sale of that product, the development wasn't finished by a long shot. After spending many hours with the client integrating the robot into their systems, the client got quite exasperated because of many small problems, he just couldn't understand it. Me, as an engineer, told him then, that you know, it is the first time we sold a 12-axes robot to anybody, that the hardware was perfect, but I am still fine-tuning the software. The client just looked at me with shock and told me that the marketing guy told him that we sold hundreds of 12-axes robots!!!!!!! Of course, after that, I was barred from communicating with the clients. I had to go to the clients premises afterwards, but were not allowed to give any opinion. I just had to keep deaf and blind, do my job, and that was that. (The problems were solved in a short time), but it just told me that sometimes the marketing guy (or the guy making press releases, or managers) have no idea what is actually going on in the field.

reply to post by Hellhound604


Thank you for a very insightful and informative Post
It's nice to actually have someone whos been there and done it to explain about the problems of R&D
I've been involved in some R&D work in the past and seen some very good ideas and prototypes fall by the wayside because it just wasn't feasible large scale, wasn't cost effective, or turned out to be dangerous or easily weaponised
So the last two examples end up being kept secret
And handed to / taken by the military

but coming back to the original subject. MIT also had a press release on it last year.

The artificial leaf — a silicon solar cell with different catalytic materials bonded onto its two sides — needs no external wires or control circuits to operate. Simply 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 placed in a container that has a barrier to separate the two sides, the two streams of bubbles can be collected and stored, and used later to deliver power: for example, by feeding them into a fuel cell that combines them once again into water while delivering an electric current.

web.mit.edu...
and here
abstract to article in Science

(would have loved to give the whole article from Science here, but I guess copyright doesn't allow it, but you can order the article)


So it seems as though at least 2 groups are working on basically the same thing, but the MIT article is a bit more detailed. Haven't studied the Glasgow University in detail yet, but it is good enough for me that 2 universities are working on the same thing. Would be exciting to see where it all leads up to, but some of the concept drawings that I have seen from MIT, doesn't look that nice, lol.... But just think,covering buildings, etc, with these synthetic leaves, and generating fuel from them, would be nice. I can see buildings in which the roof is covered in solar cells, and other parts of the buildings and artificial parks covered by the artificial forests. The pavements and streets could be covered by these piezo-electric sheets, generating more electricity. Maybe then our cities wouldn't be such environmental-destroying obscenities any more.

more about energy harvesting pavements :
energy harvestign pavements

This will be great on those 'fake tree' cell towers. We can have the fake leaves on the fake trees with the fake crows (antennas)

reply to post by Hellhound604


This is golden info. I have been told the exact same things from people that do R and D that I either know or have met (from those I know). The worst part is when one of them is working on something, you get to see the excitement and when you ask, they are like I signed a non disclosure, I like this thing so much I wouldn't even chance breaking the contract.

Originally posted by SeekerLou
reply to post by mossme89

 

The motivating factor would be money, I'd assume.

. I'd share with the world too and help ASAP but the motivation factor for them must be otherwise.

If only more people were like you and me.
I'd give it away free too if I could!
-With ya on this, moss!

Do you have a job? Do you expect to get paid? Or do you volunteer your services and "hope" people will donate food, clothing, and shelter to you and your family. Suddenly you two seem to be a lot more like them than you thought I bet.

Originally posted by OccamsRazor04

Originally posted by SeekerLou
reply to post by mossme89

 

The motivating factor would be money, I'd assume.

. I'd share with the world too and help ASAP but the motivation factor for them must be otherwise.

If only more people were like you and me.
I'd give it away free too if I could!
-With ya on this, moss!

Do you have a job? Do you expect to get paid? Or do you volunteer your services and "hope" people will donate food, clothing, and shelter to you and your family. Suddenly you two seem to be a lot more like them than you thought I bet.

As a matter of fact, I DO have a job.
And YES, I do vOlunteer without pay for certain causes that benefit others! expecting nothing in return!
Oh but I'm not on trial here.
Hmm , If more people were like this... yep me and moss! sitting in a tree lolol