The demand for energy in the globalized world is constantly increasing, not least because of increased mobility, data processing and industrial production, and climate change is the main challenge in this context.
Most of the energy sources used to move the world’s population, in an industrial context or to supply energy, are neither renewable, nor environmentally friendly, and alternatives to fossil fuels are needed for the long-term success of the energy transition and climate protection.
The same is true for achieving the European Union’s ambitious climate goals and the German environmental goals based on them. Hydrogen will play a key role as a versatile energy source. If the electricity needed to produce hydrogen comes from renewable energy sources, this will lead to a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in industry and transportation. .
Recently, a team of scientists succeeded in converting sunlight into fuel, day and night, through a molecule found in the compound “ruthenium”, which is sensitive to light, and can store solar energy, and then release it later to form hydrogen fuel.
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According to what scientists published in the scientific journal “nature”, the molecule can harness solar energy to generate hydrogen, which is a clean fuel, and it generates and produces hydrogen that produces energy when the sun is not shining, and since hydrogen storage is expensive, so hydrogen can also be manufactured using charged batteries. Solar energy, but the process is often ineffective, according to the scientists.
Carsten Streb at Ulm University in Germany and his colleagues have created a molecule that can chemically store energy from sunlight, then use that energy to release hydrogen on demand.
The researchers also created a chemical compound of a large metal oxide bonded to two light-sensitive molecules based on the rare metal ruthenium, and placed the compound’s molecules in a solution containing the salt sodium ascorbate.
When the light hits the ruthenium-based section, its atoms absorb energy, allowing the attached metal oxide to capture and store electrons from the salt. This “liquid fuel” has been stable for more than 24 hours.
In the final step, the team added an acid, in which electrons combine with the acid’s hydrogen ions to produce hydrogen gas. This work provides a blueprint for future liquid energy storage systems, the researchers say.