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Nanotrees Harvest the Sun's Energy to Turn Water Into Hydrogen Fuel

ScienceDaily -- ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2012) — University of California, San Diego electrical engineers are building a forest of tiny nanowire trees in order to cleanly capture solar energy without using fossil fuels and harvest it for hydrogen fuel generation. Reporting in the journal Nanoscale, the team said nanowires, which are made from abundant natural materials like silicon and zinc oxide, also offer a cheap way to deliver hydrogen fuel on a mass scale.
"This is a clean way to generate clean fuel," said Deli Wang, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

The trees' vertical structure and branches are keys to capturing the maximum amount of solar energy, according to Wang. That's because the vertical structure of trees gr

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Submitted Mar 27, 2012 By: mastermariner

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RickythePilot Champion Author Florida Posts:1,147 Points:236,335 Joined:Aug 2010	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 12:45:10 PM Ignore RickythePilot Report Abuse Time will tell. ;-D
BurtB Champion Author Los Angeles Posts:5,366 Points:1,388,870 Joined:Jun 2006	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 11:06:29 AM Ignore BurtB Report Abuse I love this technology stuff. Turning hydrogen into electricity, or combustion, is probably being worked on by another research team.
popeye2009 Veteran Author Ottawa Posts:359 Points:477,925 Joined:Sep 2009	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 9:38:22 AM Ignore popeye2009 Report Abuse ok [Edited by: popeye2009 at 3/27/2012 12:40:16 PM EST]
Tucker16 Champion Author Ottawa Posts:1,191 Points:563,600 Joined:Jul 2006	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 9:30:10 AM Ignore Tucker16 Report Abuse Just plant them in your backyard!
leraar2 Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:3,899 Points:814,405 Joined:Mar 2011	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 8:00:47 AM Ignore leraar2 Report Abuse OLD news.
fuel2use Champion Author Seattle Posts:3,609 Points:757,945 Joined:Dec 2010	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 7:56:52 AM Ignore fuel2use Report Abuse Hope it works.
peakkeller Champion Author Colorado Springs Posts:1,747 Points:790,325 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 7:35:13 AM Ignore peakkeller Report Abuse Very early stages of research here, but everything starts as early stage research, impractical at first.
Eugene_C Champion Author Columbus Posts:2,299 Points:155,995 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 7:33:00 AM Ignore Eugene_C Report Abuse Biomass is cheaper. Just grow hemp and switch grass.
memo81 Champion Author St. Louis Posts:2,484 Points:471,225 Joined:Feb 2012	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 7:12:55 AM Ignore memo81 Report Abuse How much will it cost to make the huge quantities needed for this to be a viable alternative?
AlgaeNOW Champion Author Wyoming Posts:1,022 Points:314,080 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 6:44:26 AM Ignore AlgaeNOW Report Abuse ok
wrunner Champion Author Virginia Posts:4,582 Points:1,163,310 Joined:Dec 2009	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 6:36:54 AM Ignore wrunner Report Abuse Fascinating!
VomVom Champion Author Calgary Posts:3,863 Points:1,647,725 Joined:May 2007	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 6:36:44 AM Ignore VomVom Report Abuse Haven't we read this already?
bruin19MD Champion Author Maryland Posts:1,108 Points:174,890 Joined:Feb 2011	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 6:29:02 AM Ignore bruin19MD Report Abuse very interesting topic... thanks
sabob Champion Author Pennsylvania Posts:12,731 Points:1,154,995 Joined:Dec 2008	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:58:16 AM Ignore sabob Report Abuse Nanu Nanu
cdrrod Champion Author Wisconsin Posts:4,286 Points:809,525 Joined:Feb 2006	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:55:16 AM Ignore cdrrod Report Abuse I found the article quite interesting, especially the picture of the electronic microscopic image of a nanoforest!
LilRedWagonIN Champion Author Indiana Posts:7,907 Points:1,580,135 Joined:Oct 2008	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:55:02 AM Ignore LilRedWagonIN Report Abuse Popular article to be posted again.
Goatroper Champion Author Dallas Posts:6,685 Points:1,311,435 Joined:Apr 2004	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:53:06 AM Ignore Goatroper Report Abuse Very interesting article....as I said three weeks ago when it was first posted.
dorisntx Champion Author Fort Worth Posts:2,079 Points:664,255 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:45:52 AM Ignore dorisntx Report Abuse ok
humblepie Champion Author Toledo Posts:35,293 Points:2,398,095 Joined:Mar 2006	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:45:50 AM Ignore humblepie Report Abuse how thrilling
OTISFL Champion Author Pensacola Posts:4,745 Points:892,540 Joined:Apr 2009	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:43:24 AM Ignore OTISFL Report Abuse Hope it works!
deputydog082 Champion Author Detroit Posts:1,905 Points:685,830 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:34:19 AM Ignore deputydog082 Report Abuse great if it works
bar1035 Champion Author Charlotte Posts:9,336 Points:1,324,945 Joined:Aug 2006	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:34:09 AM Ignore bar1035 Report Abuse March 7th. repost from a few weeks ago
orphancarguyPE Champion Author PEI Posts:3,905 Points:758,100 Joined:Jan 2011	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:33:22 AM Ignore orphancarguyPE Report Abuse Interesting lab experiment. I'm less informed than I though it I would be after reading this snippet 5 times. It really needs the Scientific American style analysis for anyone to figure exactly what is going on. Simply stating a nice phrase like "photoelectrochemical water-splitting" doesn't do a lot for me, as much as you parse the components photo (light) + electro + chemical. Its about as useful as a statement like "the revolutionary new process uses endothermic rather than the traditional exothermic catalytic reactions to create new compounds out of chemicals". I guess they are angling for locked-up research grants before they spill any information.
dgerst Champion Author South Carolina Posts:2,801 Points:578,525 Joined:Aug 2008	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:31:28 AM Ignore dgerst Report Abuse Innovation like this is what is needed at this time. Who knows which technology will win. Everything should be on the table, except fossil fuels.
GingoutMD Champion Author Maryland Posts:3,495 Points:713,305 Joined:Jan 2010	Message Posted: Mar 27, 2012 5:23:21 AM Ignore GingoutMD Report Abuse Great idea. I hope it can be developed further into a viable commercial process.