The Artificial Leaf
Climate-neutral method of producing hydrogen
Doctoral candidates Herman Kriegel, Ragle Raudsepp and Jiri Kollmann take us into their laboratories and show us how the photoelectrodes are produced and studied. Photo: Hereon/Christian Schmid
When it comes to renewable energies, hydrogen as an energy carrier can't be ignored. Hereon scientists are working on a climate-neutral method of producing hydrogen in which sunlight is directly utilised to split water: this is known as photoelectrochemical water splitting. The method breaks water down into its hydrogen and oxygen components. In a similar way to photosynthesis, solar energy is converted into chemical energy. Instead of a plant’s leaf, however, the scientists use, for example, photoactive material layers. The best materials are still very expensive and complicated to produce. For this reason, employees in the Department for Sustainable Energy Technology at the Institute of Materials Research are developing surfaces that can be produced cost-efficiently.
The Artificial Leaf - 360° Clip
(German only, English will follow)
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Infographic (German only, English will follow)
© Hereon/Jörg Stiehler Infographic in German [PDF, Download] (506 KB)