Scientists find new way to produce hydrogen fuel from sunlight
Bengaluru, April 28: The energy provided by sunlight in an hour is equivalent to mankind's total energy consumption for one year, but the development of devices to turn this abundant natural gift into a feasible energy source for mankind had remained a challenge.
A new research, led by Govinder Singh Pawar -- an Indian origin scientist at the University of Exeter in the UK -- has given a ray of hope for the solar fuel.
According to the report, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the team of researchers developed an innovative method to split water into its constituent parts - Hydrogen and Oxygen - using sunlight.
The hydrogen can then be used as a fuel, with the potential to power everyday items such as homes and vehicles.
Hydrogen is considered to be a promising alternative fuel source that is clean -- its only by-product is water -- and is capable of replacing fossil fuels.
"The Hydrogen fuel that can be created through this synthetic photosynthesis method would not only severely reduce carbon emissions, but would also create a virtually limitless energy source," the university said in a statement.
"Photo electro-chemical" water splitting, emulating the natural photosynthesis using man-made materials, has long been considered as the Holy Grail to a carbon-free hydrogen economy.
However, efforts to produce efficient stable semiconductor material, in order to effectively convert sunlight to a storable widespread energy source, had so far proved elusive.
The ground-breaking new research by Pawar and co-workers at University's Environment and Sustainability Institute centres on the use of a revolutionary photo-electrode - made from nanoparticles of the elements lanthanum(La), iron(Fe) and oxygen(O).
Here, the team utilised Lanthanum iron oxide (LaFeO3) to create a semiconducting material that gave the ideal results for the production of Hydrogen from water using sunlight, making it the strongest candidate yet for renewable Hydrogen generation.
The researchers believe their novel photo-electrode made using "scalable spray pyrolysis method" is not only cheap to produce, but can also be recreated on a larger scale for mass and worldwide use.
"To the best of our knowledge, we report for the first time the nanostructured LaFeO3 photoelectrode for spontaneous Hydrogen evolution from water without any external applied bias," the researchers said.
"Moreover, our material has excellent stability where, after 21 hours of testing, it does not degrade, ideal for water splitting purpose."
The university in its statement said that Pawar and his colleagues "are currently working on further improving our material to make it more efficient to produce Hydrogen".
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SC dismisses pleas seeking review of 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage
New Delhi, Jan 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of pleas seeking to review its October 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage.
A five-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took up about 13 petitions related to the matter in chambers and dismissed them.
"We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find that the view expressed in both the judgements is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed," the bench said.
It said the judges have carefully gone through the judgements delivered by Justice (since retired) S Ravindra Bhat speaking for himself and for Justice (since retired) Hima Kohli as well as the concurring opinion expressed by Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, constituting the majority view.
The bench also rejected a prayer made in the review petitions for hearing in an open court.
According to practice, the review pleas are considered in chambers by the judges.
The new bench was constituted after Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the present CJI, recused from hearing the review petitions on July 10, 2024.
Notably, Justice P S Narasimha is the only member of the original Constitution bench comprising five judges which delivered the verdict, as former CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul, Ravindra Bhat and Hima Kohli have retired.
A five-judge Constitution bench led by then CJI Chandrachud on October 17, 2024, refused to accord legal backing to same-sex marriages and held there was "no unqualified right" to marriage with the exception of those recognised by law.
The apex court, however, made a strong pitch for the rights of LGBTQIA++ persons so that they didn't face discrimination in accessing goods and services available to others, safe houses known as "garima greh" in all districts for shelter to members of the community facing harassment and violence, and dedicated hotlines in case of trouble.
In its judgement, the bench held transpersons in heterosexual relationships had the freedom and entitlement to marry under the existing statutory provisions.
It said an entitlement to legal recognition of the right to union, akin to marriage or civil union, or conferring legal status to the relationship could be only done through an "enacted law".
The five-judge Constitution bench delivered four separate verdicts on a batch of 21 petitions seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriages.
All five judges were unanimous in refusing the legal recognition to same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act and observed it was within Parliament's ambit to change the law for validating such a union.
While former CJI Chandrachud wrote a separate 247-page verdict, Justice Kaul penned a 17-page judgement where he broadly agreed with the former's views.
Justice Bhat, who authored an 89-page judgement for himself and Justice Kohli, disagreed with certain conclusions arrived at by the former CJI, including on applicability of adoption rules for such couples.
Justice Narasimha in his 13-page verdict was in complete agreement with the reasoning and conclusion of Justice Bhat.
The judges were unanimous in holding that queerness was a natural phenomenon and not an "urban or elite" notion.
In his judgement, the former CJI recorded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's assurance of forming a committee chaired by the cabinet secretary to define and elucidate the scope of entitlements of such couples in a union.
The LGBTQIA++ rights activists, who won a major legal battle in 2018 in the Supreme Court, which decriminalised consensual gay sex, moved the apex court seeking validation of same-sex marriages and consequential reliefs such as rights to adoption, enrolment as parents in schools, opening of bank accounts and availing succession and insurance benefits.
Some of the petitioners sought the apex court to use its plenary power besides the "prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union and ensure LGBTQIA++ persons led a "dignified" life like heterosexuals.
