The first step of water splitting is a challenge: to release the hydrogen, the oxygen must be removed from two water molecules. Water consists of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms.

A team led by Professor Frank Würthner at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and the Center for Nanosystems Chemistry at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) is working on this. Mimicking its active centre is a promising strategy for realising the sustainable production of hydrogen. Plants use a complex molecular apparatus for this, the so-called photosystem II. In nature, light-driven water splitting takes place during photosynthesis in plants. But it would be even more sustainable if hydrogen could be produced directly with the energy of sunlight. If the electricity comes from renewable sources, it is called green hydrogen. It can be produced from water using electricity. Hydrogen is considered a promising alternative to fossil fuels. Mankind is facing a central challenge: it must manage the transition to a sustainable and carbon dioxide-neutral energy economy. Market Overview Particle Size AnalyzersĬhemists from Würzburg present a new enzyme-like molecular catalyst for water oxidation.

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