Artificial Leaves Replicate Photosynthesis? | Horizons | BBC

[@talderson1]

Ok. It's 5 years... where's my plant wafer power box???

[@arrangingatomsthewaygoddid8904]

If all the inventions which have been made reality so far are commercialized we will be living like people live in science fiction movies

[@kelciheit]

No, it’s that the idea was almost completely fundamentally flawed from the beginning. If you are manufacturing the products, you need fuel. The product will produce a certain amount of fuel before the catalysts stop which will either break even in fuel and make no difference or possibly be a waste of even more fuel. Then again it’s sunlight, which might make it capture enough fuel to gain a net positive, but is it truly going to be better than solar panels???

[@NphiniT]

@@kelciheit I came here searching for artificial ways of photosynthesis to clean our planet a little more!! This researcher seems to be more interested in making money than solving problems. What he would have achieved for our planet would have been great!!

[@kelciheit]

Nurudeen Abdul-Karim yes this is absolutely true, but at the same time, there will always be some selfish reasons for any product. Also, no, solar panels is basically artificial photosynthesis except it doesn’t create glucose which is the byproduct of photosynthesis... Then again, if this was possibly a new way to produce organic sugars then yes, this would be useful for something, but power is out of the question.

[@MrMaxitaple]

Or the magnesium battery

[@sesc79]

You can quite easily run this system in a closed cycle, i.e., collect the water (vapour) at the exhaust of the engine/fuel cell, condense it, and feed it back to the artificial leaves. That way you only need to process the very first fill of the tank (and occasional small replenishments).

[@WookieeMonster]

"5 years," yet here we are 7 years on. I'd love to run my home for two days on what was it, ten bottles of water? Well, I'm still waiting.

[@henrylinks1087]

puff piece to justify spending your money. a cover story for what they're really doing all this for. turn everything into a gmo owned by mom corp... it's all by design. they lie and people die. this comment was brought to you by pfizzer, a mom corp. subsidiary much love God bless

[@MrAtomicAccountant]

As a plant biochemist, I have read and seen the experiments that others have done to turn the function of the leaf into a power source utilizing the hydrogen and oxygen gas concept. To finally see someone accomplish it is most gratifying.

[@daconias]

"In 2008, Daniel Nocera founded Sun Catalytix, a company to develop energy storage for the widespread implementation of renewables. In August 2014, Lockheed Martin purchased the assets of Sun Catalytix, and Nocera’s energy storage technologies are now being commercialized under the new venture, Lockheed Martin Advanced Energy Storage LLC."

[@deepakpant5716]

anyone in 2019 and still waiting ???

[@primeroyal7434]

yep.......

[@allhadyouseen]

6:34 where can I buy it? It should be available on the market😊

[@대한민국만세-d6j]

2020

[@kornbread5359]

share this everywhere! making people talk about it will help it to develop!!

[@fatesmith123]

love it, cant wait. bring it on

[@shekharsinhavicky]

I am still waiting. It is over 5 years.

[@headhurty7743]

This was on my SAT

[@S1KRYD]

That is the coolest thing I have seen in a decade!!!

[@sesc79]

I agree that that's an important point, but I'd say if you build the system accordingly (as a closed cycle), you only need (reasonably) clean water once. The distilled water coming from the exhaust will then dilute any minerals etc. that are there from the initial fill, won't it?

[@Root121212]

I appreciate your comment; It´s hard for me write in Italian and English

[@roxyroxanne1233]

What people are forgetting is that water is hard to come by. It's a limited resource, or of course we can desalinate sea water or purify sewage, but these are all costly as well.

[@ASHORSHEMAYA]

This video and similar videos are intended to prepare people for the new energy policy and climate change agenda. As you can see, this video was ten years ago and nothing has happened yet and it has been completely forgotten. The real problem is that people forget and do not want to focus on one thing to know the truth. This is exactly what the current media relies on, that people forget. The idea is not to participate in information, but to prepare people psychologically to accept this political madness in the coming years.

[@antonnym214]

In case you haven't heard: ALL energy breakthroughs are ALWAYS 3 to 5 years away. The horizon simply continuously recedes. SO yes, I love this advancement, but It has been 3.5 years now and we haven't had an update, so I'm thinking this thing just died in the lab like everything else does.

[@GabrielMartinez-pq3rg]

I get what you're Saying...but Bill Gates and a Bunch of other Investor Already started working on it. Yes! The bad guys are always Stopping the Good Guys. :( P.S Pure Corruption!

[@ltshazaam]

Surely it hasn't died, but it was killed. The world works on oil and it will collapse if we have a breakthrough in energy development.

[@barrygroeneveld6901]

@@ltshazaam it's a shame.

[@BotondKisKovacs]

This is very exciting but I'd like if someone wrote about it's efficiency/cost compared to photovoltaic cells and about hydrogen storage. I've seen this in a few articles webwide but nobody goes into the detail I am interested in.

[@Avadraken]

If you note in the video at about 3:20, Daniel makes a point that all plants have electricity but there is no actual current because there is nothing there to conduct said electricity. Despite that, it's still present.

[@fruechtekorb]

Can we have a follow up please?

[@dreadedhalo]

The future of technology goes against the current monetary paradigm and that I love. Science is so liberating.

[@transbenshapiro1452]

It's been 8 years still not commercially viable artificial leaf.

[@sesc79]

Water is scarce in many parts of the world and isn't in many others. More to the point, you can run this system in a closed cycle if you like (catch the water at the exhaust and reuse it)! Either way, the technology may well prove sensible: A battery delivers less energy than what it was charged with (in techie speech, it hasn't 100 % efficiency), and liquid/gaseous fuel can be better in some applications (transport, cooking, ...).

[@jproductions303]

Any way I can get his contact info. I would love to reach out to him about an idea that I've been tossing around.

[@AugustHawk]

Excellent video. I have some questions - Aren't the 2 gases fairly explosive? I know by themselves they aren't unstable or explosive, say for example, what if there was a house fire - once the fire hit the stored hydrogen or oxygen, wouldn't that result in a huge explosion? As a domino effect, would this impact fire department responses (response methods and danger) to putting out these types of fires? Just curious. Thanks for any replies.

[@Mooseracks]

Pretty cool stuff... So, what are the options when there is a shortage of pure clean water...OR can this idea work with ANY type of water; eg. waste-water, salt-water, un-distilled water... Is it possible to collect moisture from the atmosphere..just a few thoughts...

[@rstevewarmorycom]

He's been diddling with this for a decade, never made a big one. What's wrong? Is it just that it's not as efficient as electrolysis and PV cells to do the same thing? I really wonder about Dan Nocera sometimes.

[@MistSonata]

This is some wicked awesome stuff, but if my guess is correct, you can't get back the water you use (unless I'm mistaken). If that's true and the water is never returned to the system, I have to wonder what kind of solution this is. It's clean, yes, but it's not renewable, and the resource it uses is a resource that we are not going to be able to survive without.

[@robdaly9624]

Can work with any water.. does not matter is it is polluted/dirty.

[@RotimiOrimoloye]

How does this differ from the research that is happening at the DOE sponsored JCAP ? Anyone???

[@cenobite2008]

Absolutely amazing

[@PriyaC]

This is brilliant!

[@AugustHawk]

linkuei83, thanks for the info. Question - would this system increase the ratio of oxygen in or air (which is roughly 21%, right?) If so wouldn't this be a problem? Thanks!

[@GrrrJr]

wow its almost here. hopefully

[@ChrisToombs]

A byproduct of burning hydrogen gas is water vapor, so theoretically when artificial photosynthesis becomes larger scale I'm sure the companies will invest in condensers to recapture at least some of the clean water..and so I doubt it would terribly affect the price of pure water

[@jilliantoombs6975]

I did a google search for "water," and this popped up. Does it know my circles if I am on chrome?

[@jilliantoombs6975]

I mean, what are the odds?

[@CYellowan]

Pure water can rather easy be made by heating up dirty water; this should be a decent temporary solution.

[@DrAg0n3250]

Why is this posted on June 17 of the year 2013 and there is snow outside?!?

[@louistournas120]

It does electrolysis and gives off oxygen and the hydrogen is stuck on the zin-nicketl-molybdem side? How do you get it out?

[@JeffCampbell2016]

+louis tournas via tubes

[@CUBETechie]

how much energy is generated with a square meter?

[@아보카도크림새우]

Still waiting...

[@jonathan__g]

Is this something that needs distilled water to make work or could sea/salt water work on this?

[@pranzee]

I am just wondering the purity of water needed for this . probably the water need to be distilled , for which power is needed at the first place

[@Paul2603W]

The whole point here is to not use solar pannels, but beeing able to create artificial photosynthetic membrane. But his apparatus at the end uses solar pannel to power a simple electrolysis reaktion...? Did i miss something here, or what happened tho that membrane?

[@OwlMachine]

"Commercially scalable" more like "Commercially profitable. An interesting idea, I wonder how much sunlight is actually required though? Solar panels today require a lot of direct light- would this work with smaller intervals and how often would the metals wear out and have to be replaced?

[@MyJigarpatel]

What is the initial cost of leaf? I am not sure exactly it is viable or not but If you think about 5 years probably it may take more than 10 years.

[@BengalensisScienceCourses]

How much is the efficiency of this panel?

[@amitrdevece]

just one question.how would we saperate H2 and O2 produced from mixture of both these gases ?

[@ZubinB]

I'd say in the model shown in the video there's no reason to separate the gases. Those gases are passed to a fuel cell which only uses up hydrogen and the oxygen then might just be released into the air going through the fuel cell.

[@Tarrakvi]

+Zubin Butt You have to feed H2 and O2 separately to both electrodes of the fuel cell.

[@bigbrushthor5509]

hydrogen is lighter than oxygen so maybe some sort of collection tower

[@Antianalgesic]

In 2008, Nocera founded Sun Catalytix, a company committed to developing energy storage for the wide-spread implementation of renewable energy. In August 2014, Lockheed Martin purchased the assets of Sun Catalytix, and now Sun Catalytix technology is being commercialized under the venture, Lockheed Martin GridStar™ Flow.

[@ProfStuartHalliday]

However it also needs pure water, a rare commodity not found in nature. (Rain water isn't pure). Why pure? As the water is split, the water is used up and any residue minerals dissolved in the water will remain behind slowly coating the 'leaf therefore stopping it working! So it'll need regular cleaning and that takes energy! I give it 10 years before these problems can be solved. :)

[@sammizayn194]

It's 2019 , but it is not commercially available

[@mrithulbalasubramanaian5822]

I have a small doubt....if this system is installed...in every house....water usage will increase,is that correct...

[@NorskNorge]

What I am missing from this video is: how long does a leaf like this last? I mean, the leaf should be able to create more energy than it takes to create it, right? If not it's not really profitable. I guess you could make leafs that create the energy to make other leafs...

[@boonkianchua8618]

so, what is the difference between hydrolysis of water powered by solar energy and this one? can anyone explain this?

[@joangg]

Boon Kian Chua the difference is that you don.t need an external source of electricty to split water into H and O2, the fotons from the sun directly do the job

[@agsinha]

I say make the secret sauce Open to public. Things will change rapidly.

[@indabushwoman]

I like small things that have the power to make huge changes...

[@cuacolobo]

Already 4 years has past since Dr. Nocera said with total confidence that "in 5 years" this product will be available. I hope BBC on july 2018 will call him and ask him where is the final product. This is a world need, crucial to reduce emissions, we are running out of time. I know his opinions about Tesla and batteries, but he should set aside those and if he still can't commercialize this, get in contact with Elon Musk, he is ultimately the king Midas of all crazy revolutionary ideas like Nocera's leaf.

[@exorias625]

Its 2019 Where is this?

[@unambitious]

Assuming your storage is in your housing not in some inert environment... No worse than storing propane imo.

[@numgun]

Heh, who needs fusion reactors when we've got stuff like this? : P

[@physicsimpossible73]

This is pretty cool but something tells me that I doubt it will ever become mass produced and I don't know why.. :(

[@kidgloves2]

True, but producing anything takes a toll on the environment. Also, we don't know what the artificial leaf will cost, could be as or almost as expensive. Add the cost of hydrogen tanks and a turbine to burn the hydrogen. Or an expensive fuel cell.

[@FailingHurtz]

I don't understand, it does solve the electricity problem but if one house uses 15 bottles of water every two days that's 2,737.6 bottles a year and assuming he's talking about the average 1/2 litre of water that means every house is using 1368.75 litres a year... 7,329,150 total single detached houses in Canada in February. That's 10,031,774,062.5 litres of water in a year for only a part of Canada.... Efficient only if you look at it their way. Please let me know if my math is wrong!!

[@MistSonata]

So are you saying that once the oxygen and hydrogen atoms are split, and the hydrogen is turned into energy used to power the house, that the water we split will reform and go back into the water cycle?

[@GiuseppeNoc]

One side cobalt-phosphate based catalyst compound. The other side nickel-molybdenum-zinc junction. I like all energy challenges since Daniel Nocera is a person I admire. All this story of artificial leaf sounds excellent except 1.Nickel, molybdenum and cobalt are not cheap at all; 2. in the nature a leaf do not last for a long time (typical couple of months), so probably Nocera's artificial leaf also will face the big challenge of relative quick degradation and oxidation. I am not a chemical expert but probably the fact that one side contains zinc, it is maybe good and bad at the same time. Like alkaline batteries a large amount of zinc increases voltage difference between poles, but unfortunately the drop down voltage once the inside environment starts to degrade it makes the battery almost impossible to re-use.

[@MegaBanne]

This is not a leaf, it just sells better to make people think of biosynthesis, even if it isn't. Biosnthesis does not work like this, it uses light to create extreme electrical charge with in the cells. The ability to make suggar is powered by this potential energy.

[@GiuseppeNoc]

***** Well maybe you are right about the definition of "leaf", in fact it is the USA marketing style, assign pretty names to things in order to get more attraction...but anyway we have to recognize there is a research on going since so many years.

[@hulladek3]

Giuseppe Nocera yea and they sad nothing about efficiency is this better then a normal silicon solar cell to split water? And if it is then you still need a 3kw (at least) fuel cell what is not cheap (15k$ LOL) and a 3 kw inverter (from 1k$) to run your house o forget the 6kw solar panel what is another dunno still 1$/w ? so another 6k$ . You could buy many battery from 15k$ lol. We are like 50 years away this will be economical if ever.

[@GiuseppeNoc]

Hulla Dek Yes you are right, a good experiment that still remains out of focus with respect the business model & efficiency. ;-)

[@AdeelKhan1]

Would love to license this tech!

[@mbbs2008]

What kind of water do we need for this? Clean drinkable water may become a limiting factor for this? Unless it can run the saem on sea water? Hard, non drinkable water etc? And then there is the cost if the artificial leat itself. He mentioned it is a catalyst so it wouldnt be "used up" ..id be interested in knowing the life span of the artifical leaf itself before it needs to be replaced. At the end of the day its about economics and how the corporation can squeeze the most pennies out of an idea (they love disposable tech to keep the consumer cylce running :) ...

[@kasramirzarezaie]

isnt that just algea?? i remember in school we put some plants in water and pointed light at it and bubbles came out of it???

[@rhapsody4025]

May i have some carbohydrates as well from photosynthesis please?

[@sourpunk77]

I want to know what's the difference between the solar panel and the artificial leaf? plzzzz

[@Minddefy]

A solar panel converts sunlight into electricity that is used immediately, whereas the leaf creates a solar fuel (in this case, hydrogen) that can be stored and used when needed.

[@Miasmagicalworldisfun]

Seems pretty obvious he is referring to the electric and gas companies that he mentions at the end of the post.

[@adhityawisnupradhana7758]

Is it Harvard or Cambridge which created the leaf? I read in the science daily, it was Cambridge

[@Novak2611]

A leaf uses quantum entanglement to do this, it is far more advanced.

[@ProfStuartHalliday]

Sadly then it will be a waste of time. The heat and cleaning process will use more energy that the leaf can make with the collected water.

[@momelezijam-jam9123]

This is the most amazing idea ever but the problem is I think it uses pure water which is a problem because the world does not have enough drinking water unless he could find a way to use salt water instead

[@mhillvo]

University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have created a solar cell that converts atmospheric carbon dioxide into a usable fuel. Here we go, the next version from research team at University of Illinois, just posted the last few days. Check it out. www.ibtimes.com/artificial-leaf-produces-fuel-co2-sunlight-2396417

[@Dollapfin]

Michael Hill why don’t we just plant little shelf stable morsels that come in quantities of 4000 a pound or more and use solar energy to increase their capacity to store more energy and eventually use that to produce sugars fatty acids and fibers that can be used to produce electricity. The morsels actually congregate their energy to produce more of themselves which can be used for energy or food or as new morsels to grow? No manufacturing no mining (aside from phosphorus which we don’t even need to add it isn’t water soluble or ‘dephosphorized’ into the atmosphere just circulated.) and no bullshit. Get it cuz farmers use cow manure.

[@danieldombai7267]

its electrolysis, my friends photosynthesis makes glucose and oxigen from water plus co2, thats it

[@Tainalvesdam]

Actually is widely known that they said it changes when the sun goes down Around Here

[@Lundburgerr]

Well, when the hydrogen is used later on it will (I can almost guarantee) combine with oxygen in the air and produce water again. So don't worry.

[@USER112358134711]

If the Oil tycoon companies will decide (i.e. NEVER before all the oil on Earth will be consumed), we probably will see many new technologies like the above to catch the market. NOT before that. Unfortunately.

[@st105900]

i wonder how pure the water should be for this reaction to take place....

[@ChemicallyNerd]

3 years later and there is no progress for practical uses of this device

[@TheOne-jg7fd]

one more year left

[@weopdurdegenes6598]

Isn't this just a solar panel that does electrolysis of water? Why use more energy to create hydrogen from water when you can use the energy directly from sunlight?

[@MartinHangaardHansen]

5 years is probably not realistic. It has to be a lot cheaper, it must last for a long time and at the same time produce enough to run a house or whatever. This has not been done all at once, and some big pieces are still missing. These challenges are tremendous, but governments should really invest big and hurry these solutions if we want a chance to stop the destruction of our atmosphere and mitigate the threat of peak oil.

[@supertecnoboff]

Awesome.

[@1revjay]

Interesting tech but it needs water, which takes energy to pump and is scarce in much of the world. Solar power doesn't need that infrastructure and with modern batteries there is no energy lag while the Sun is not out. In 5 years, this whole experiment may be nothing but a charming way for kids to win science fairs.

[@prismaticerror6911]

how are these more energy efficient than a solar panel?

[@an1627]

I want this now

[@jfn1103]

I am glad that I am talking to a more rational minded person who has good intentions regarding energy and civilization. What I will say is that our nation does not have an energy crisis. We continue to find more oil and we will be using a different/better energy lonngggg before we "run out" of oil. We already have good alternatives such as nuclear which is safe and emits little to no c02 in the whole process.

[@arne6787]

What about perovskite

[@nissans007]

but how did he lit the fan??????

[@ninepuchar1]

I agree with John Fisher.

[@vnsh44]

The final outcome must be looked at from the point of view whether in the world of ever increasing money makers / market economy will it be available to larger almost everyhuman on Earth or it will remain valid only for selected few.

[@pcdsgh]

there will come a point where we'll reinvent it and we're one foot through that door.

[@nikosorfanos6652]

9 Years ago

[@Mutubeish]

give it some years..

[@kidgloves2]

You need to store hydrogen for use at night. Or use batteries, which are extremely expensive and don't last.

[@beachcomber2008]

The difference between this and plants is that plants construct themselves and move actively towards the light. They are also beautiful. How sensible is it to strip the earth's surface of living beings to replace them with something inert, lifeless, and ugly? The earth needs redesigning with life and living beings. Real leaves, real fish, real coral, real living photosynthesizing EXPERTS.

[@BogBod436]

Omg you shouldn't put it in a vase and look at it xD it is a way to get energy in a way a plant does... It just does electrolysis in a similar way a leaf does... It should not replace leaves

[@deividux12]

unfortunately oil companies already did that to electric cars 50 years ago... fortunately they are coming to light now

[@kidgloves2]

Why can't you use an existing solar panel to split the gasses via electrolysis? You don't need a catalyst.. you don't need platinum. You need a solar panel, water and two copper wires. The problem is storing the hydrogen, he never says how they're going to solve that problem.

[@pjmavv1591]

Copying nature is always going to be the best way to do things simply because nature works

[@VariusMayhem]

Everyone should buy blueprints and small-sized examples of that technology. It this spreads, we could end the oil industry and wars over oil would be history. It starts with several households, then streets powered by this technology. Soon whole districts, cities and countries... You can't put on the lid forever to suppress progress.