“Yes, my friends, I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light.”

(Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island, 1874)

Scientists draw their vision and inspiration from all quarters – including science fiction. A scientist must allow himself or herself to dream through the universe – and in this is born the conviction that the impossible can be made possible. In 2011, Technion’s third Nobel Laureate Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman cited the nineteenth century science fiction writer Jules Verne as an instrumental sun of inspiration in his career. “After reading Mysterious Island, which I read 25 times as a child, I thought that it was the best thing we can do. The engineer in the book knows the mechanics and creates a life on the island from scratch, “

Shechtman was to uncover a whole new class of matter – that of quasicrystals – partly by being awake enough to fully realize the implications of what he witnessed through his electron microscope, and also through his stubborn adherence to the truth of his observation – regardless of personal cost and reputation.

Today, scientists at the Grand Technion Energy Program are also inspired by Jules Verne. With determination, vision and service, they are determined to affirm the power of science to create 100% clean energy sources for tomorrow’s world. Moving beyond a pervasive reluctance to deal with undeniable facts of depleting global oil reserves, exploding world populations, and global climate change, they are applying expert multidisciplinary science to signal another way.

In this instance, we are talking about a game-changing discovery that shows that through the material properties of simple rust, the use of mirrors, sunlight and water, future generations might well be harnessing a 100% clean and renewable source of energy to power our tomorrows. Seawater.

EPFL and Technion researchers have figured out the “champion” nanostructures to produce hydrogen in the most environmentally friendly and cheap manner, by simply using daylight.

In the quest for the production of renewable and clean energy, photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) constitute a sort of a Holy Grail. PECs are devices able of splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen in a single operation, thanks to solar radiation. “As a matter of fact, we’ve already discovered this precious chalice, says Michael Grätzel, Director of the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI) at EPFL and inventor of dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells. Today we have just reached an important milestone on the path that will lead us forward to profitable industrial applications. ”

This week, Nature Materials is indeed publishing a groundbreaking article on the subject. EPFL researchers, working with Avner Rothschild from Technion (Israel), have managed to accurately characterize the iron oxide nanostructures to be used in order to produce hydrogen at the lowest possible cost. “The whole point of our approach is to use an exceptionally abundant, stable and cheap material: rust,” adds Scott C. Warren, first author of the article.

At the end of last year, Kevin Sivula, one of the collaborators at the LPI laboratory, presented a prototype electrode based on the same principle. Its efficiency was such that gas bubbles emerged as soon as it was under a light stimulus. Without a doubt, the potential of such cheap electrodes was demonstrated, even if there was still room for improvement.

By using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques, researchers were able to precisely characterize the movement of the electrons through the cauliflower-looking nanostructures forming the iron oxide particles, laid on electrodes during the manufacturing process. “These measures have helped us understand the reason why we get performance differences depending on the electrodes manufacturing process”, says Grätzel.

By comparing several electrodes, whose manufacturing method is now mastered, scientists were able to identify the “champion” structure. A 10×10 cm prototype has been produced and its effectiveness is in line with expectations. The next step will be the development of the industrial process to large-scale manufacturing. A European funding and the Swiss federal government could provide support for this last part.

Evidently, the long-term goal is to produce hydrogen – the fuel of the future – in an environmentally friendly and especially competitive way. For Michael Grätzel, “current methods, in which a conventional photovoltaic cell is coupled to an electrolyzer for producing hydrogen, cost 15 € per kilo at their cheapest. We’re aiming at a € 5 charge per kilo”.

References: Scott C.Warren, Kislon Voïtchovsky, Hen Dotan, Celine M. Leroy, Maurin Cornuz, Francesco Stellacci, Cécile Hébert, Avner Rothschild and Michael Grätzel, ‘Identification of champion nanostructures for solar water-splitting’, Nature materials online edition, July 7, 2013.