Researchers in Sweden and other countries have successfully developed a new type of molecular catalyst that can increase the efficiency of using sunlight to decompose oxygen and hydrogen from water to a level close to that of natural photosynthesis. This technology can improve the conversion efficiency of clean energy such as solar energy and reduce production costs, and better promote the practical use of clean energy.

　　 Photosynthesis mainly refers to plants, algae and certain bacteria undergoing a series of reactions under sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into organic matter and release oxygen (some bacteria release hydrogen). For a long time, in clean energy technology, especially solar energy, researchers have tried to imitate this natural phenomenon to achieve energy conversion, but the efficiency cannot be compared with true photosynthesis.

Researchers from the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology and other institutions published a report in Nature Chemistry, saying that in terms of efficiency indicators, the value of photosynthesis in nature is about 100 to 400. Existing catalysts make water splitting more efficient than photosynthesis. Two orders of magnitude, and they have developed a new type of catalyst based on the metal element rubidium, which can increase this value to more than 300 to achieve true photosynthesis efficiency.

　　Researchers said that this new type of catalyst has broad application prospects. For example, in the Sahara desert area with strong sunlight, this technology can be used to produce hydrogen fuel on a large scale, or it can be combined with traditional solar cells to improve the efficiency of photoelectric conversion.

　　 However, the researchers also mentioned that they are still working hard to study how to reduce the production cost of this new catalyst. It is estimated that clean energy based on this technology can compete with traditional fossil energy such as coal and petroleum in 10 years.