"When electricity, whether from photovoltaic cell,...

2008-08-16T18:14:00.000+01:00

"When electricity, whether from photovoltaic cell, wind turbine or other sources, runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode and oxygen gas is produced."

Uh?! There is nothing new here, this is straight forward electolysis water using a couple of carbon electrodes and an electric current.

And anyway, if you have split the oxygen from water, all that is left is ... hydrogen.

So what is this other catalyst doing?

"Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can copy the water-splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis."

If you have a catalyst that produces hydrogen from water when you pass an electric current through it all you have left is ... oxygen.

The only new thing I can see in this article is that it is recombined in a fuel cell to produce energy at night. In short, it is a battery.

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"When electricity, whether from photovoltaic cell,...