Loading…
Researchers at the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bengaluru, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, have built a metal-free photoanode for splitting water using sunlight.
They attached the amino acid aspartic acid to perylene diimide (PDI), a light-absorbing organic dye molecule, and let the resulting PDI-Asp molecules organise themselves in water through supramolecular self-assembly.
The molecules formed well-ordered two-dimensional nanosheets, which delivered a photocurrent density of 143 microamperes per sq cm at 1.2 V against the reversible hydrogen electrode - about 18% higher than the unassembled bulk material.
The gain comes from better separation of light-generated charges and reduced recombination, achieved purely by controlling how the molecules stack rather than by adding any metal.
The work, by Dr Goutam Ghosh and Dr Ashutosh K. Singh and published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, points towards cheaper, metal-free routes to green hydrogen.
Molecules arrange themselves into ordered structures using weak, reversible forces - hydrogen bonds, pi-stacking, electrostatic attraction - rather than the strong covalent bonds of ordinary synthesis. No external shaping is needed; the design is built into the molecule.
Simple Analogy: Magnetic tiles poured into a box that click themselves into a neat sheet.
Approved by the Union Cabinet on 4 January 2023 to make India a global hub for the production, use and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives.
Key: Outlay of Rs 19,744 crore, of which Rs 17,490 crore is for the SIGHT programme, Rs 1,466 crore for pilot projects and Rs 400 crore for research and development. Target: 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen per annum by 2030. Nodal ministry: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Government of India umbrella programme promoting nanoscience and nanotechnology research, infrastructure and human resource development.
Key: Mentors CeNS, whose research spans metal and semiconductor nanostructures, liquid crystals, gels, membranes and hybrid materials.
Autonomous research institute working on nanostructures, liquid crystals, gels, membranes and hybrid materials. Founded in 1991 by the liquid crystal physicist Prof. S. Chandrasekhar, FRS, as the Centre for Liquid Crystal Research; it came under the Department of Science and Technology in 2003, was renamed Centre for Soft Matter Research in 2010 and took its present name in 2014.
Central department under the Ministry of Science and Technology that provides core grant-in-aid support to CeNS and funds basic and applied research across its autonomous institutes.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology > Developments in materials science, nanotechnology and energy; Environment > Renewable energy
General Awareness > Science and current affairs
Which gas is evolved when a metal reacts with an acid?
Answer: Hydrogen
With reference to green hydrogen, consider the following statements: 1. It can be used directly as a fuel for internal combustion. 2. It can be blended with natural gas and used as fuel for heat or power generation. 3. It can be used in the hydrogen fuel cell to run vehicles. How many of the above statements are correct?
Answer: All three
Consider the following heavy industries: 1. Fertilizer plants 2. Oil refineries 3. Steel plants Green hydrogen is expected to play a significant role in decarbonizing how many of the above industries?
Answer: All three
Using sunlight absorbed by an electrode immersed in water to drive the reaction that separates water into hydrogen and oxygen.
A semiconductor in which electrons are the majority charge carriers; perylene diimide behaves as an organic n-type material.
The light-absorbing electrode in a PEC cell where the water oxidation half-reaction takes place.