California Lab Sees Solar Fuel Progress as Rust Hurdle Tamed
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California scientists seeking to make vehicle fuel from little more than sunshine and water are getting closer to their goal after finding a way to avoid rust in the semiconductor materials they use.
The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a federally funded lab based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said it has figured out how to use materials such as silicon and gallium arsenide in a process to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using sunlight. Avoiding corrosion in those materials, commonly used in solar panels and LEDs, is an advance that puts the lab on track to show a low-energy, carbon-free method to make solar fuel by 2015, said Nate Lewis, JCAP’s scientific director.