Chemists have discovered an unexpected way to use plasmonic metal, harvesting the high energy electrons excited by light in plasmon and then using this energy to do chemistry. Plasmon is a collective motion of free electrons in a metal that strongly absorbs and scatters light.

Researchers have developed a very promising prototype of a new solar celll. The material gallium phosphide enables their solar cell to produce the clean fuel hydrogen gas from liquid water. Processing the gallium phosphide in the form of very small nanowires is novel and helps to boost the yield by a factor of ten. And does so using ten thousand times less precious material.

Digunakan oleh alam selama milyaran tahun, fotosintesis telah memberikan kehidupan bagi planet ini, memberikan lingkungan yang sesuai untuk organisme paling sederhana hingga kita, manusia.
Meskipun para peneliti telah meneliti dan meniru fenomena natural ini dalam laboratorium selama bertahun-tahun, pemahaman akan bagaimana proses kimia yang terjadi dibalik fotosintesis masih menjadi misteri — hingga …