‘Solar Paint’ Breakthrough Can Provide Endless Energy Source
19th June 2017
The scientists developed a new compound that sucks water vapor from the air—much like those humidity-absorbing packets of silica gel you find in shoeboxes. But unlike silica, the new material (synthetic molybdenum-sulphide) also acts as a semiconductor and water-splitting catalyst, meaning that it takes water molecules and separates them into oxygen and hydrogen, a clean fuel source.
The compound is made more effective when mixed with titanium oxide, a white pigment often found in house paint, which makes it easily applicable to a wide range of buildings.
Cool.
The technology is likely still a few years away from commercialization, since the harvested hydrogen gas would still need to be collected somehow and stored until put to use.