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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BJP worker’s 16-year-old son allegedly casts eight votes in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad; Video viral
Lucknow (Farrukhabad): A viral video has surfaced showing a 16-year-old son of a BJP worker allegedly casting eight votes to the saffron party during the ongoing general elections in Uttar Pradesh. The video has sparked controversy, and the opposition has urged for prompt action from the Election Commission of India, reports scroll.in.
The video shared by the Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on micro-blogging site ‘X’, showed the youngster recording himself while casting multiple times in a series of instances. The incident reportedly took place in Khiri Pamaran village, which falls under the Aliganj Assembly constituency within the Farrukhabad parliamentary seat. Mukesh Rajput, the sitting MP, is the BJP candidate in this constituency. Polling in Farrukhabad occurred on May 13 during the fourth phase of the general election.
In the viral video, the youngster is seen casting eight votes in total, all for the BJP, one by one with different clippings.
The youngster in the video has been identified as Rajan Singh Thakur, confirmed his father, Anil Singh Thakur to the Scroll.in. Anil Singh Thakur is the gram pradhan (village head) of Khiri Pamaran and a member of the BJP.
Anil defending his son told the Scroll that the ‘Video misrepresented his son,’ and claimed that the voting was done when the machine was being tested in some instances and other clipping of him voting on behalf of mentally and physically disabled voters was merged and made into a video.
Despite the Anil's caims, the video has drawn significant criticism. Subhash Chandra Prajapati, the additional district magistrate of Farrukhabad, confirmed to the Scroll that the administration will file a case soon. He mentioned that the returning officer is investigating the matter following a directive from the chief electoral officer in Lucknow.
The opposition has been vocal in its criticism, with Akhilesh Yadav demanding action from the Election Commission. In his social media post, Yadav accused the BJP of undermining the electoral process and described the party's booth committee as a "loot committee." The Congress party also called on the Election Commission to take action, in a ‘X’ post the party wrote, “Dear Election Commission…are you watching..a boy is voting 8-8 times ... .at least wake up now.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, took to ‘X’ to express, “Fearing and seeing their defeat, the BJP is attempting to undermine democracy by pressuring government machinery to deny the mandate. The Congress expects all officers performing election duties to remember their constitutional responsibilities despite any pressure from those in power. Otherwise, once the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc government is formed, actions will be taken to ensure that anyone will think ten times before violating their 'Oath to the Constitution'."
Following the video's circulation, Naval Kishor Shakya, the Samajwadi Party candidate in Farrukhabad, filed a complaint with the district election officer. Shakya's complaint alleges that Rajan Singh Thakur cast votes after snatching voter information slips from other voters and that he was assisted by Dinesh Thakur, the local police station's station house officer. Shakya has called for re-polling at the affected polling center.
In a related incident earlier in May, Gujarat Police arrested two BJP workers for allegedly casting bogus votes and live-streaming the act on social media in the Dahod constituency. The Election Commission conducted re-polling at the affected booth following the incident.
The opposition INDIA bloc, including the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of failing to take prompt action against election model code of conduct violations.
अपनी हार सामने देख कर भाजपा जनादेश को झुठलाने के लिए सरकारी तंत्र पर दबाव बना कर लोकतंत्र को लूटना चाहती है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 19, 2024
कांग्रेस चुनावी ड्यूटी कर रहे सभी अधिकारियों से यह अपेक्षा करती है कि वो सत्ता के दबाव के सामने अपनी संवैधानिक ज़िम्मेदारी न भूलें।
वरना INDIA की सरकार बनते ही ऐसी… https://t.co/fk4wXL8QZy
