Disorder could bring cheap, clean hydrogen

Scrambling the atomic structure of titanium dioxide nanocrystals has created an efficient catalyst to use the sun’s energy to extract hydrogen from water.

Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory: 28 January 2011

Image: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

A nanoscale look at a photocatalyst that is both durable and very efficient. This high-resolution transmission electron microscope image of a titanium dioxide nanocrystal after hydrogenation reveals engineered disorder on the crystal’s surface, a change that enables the photocatalyst to absorb infrared light.