IIT Guwahati researchers developing solar-powered hydrogen generators

Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati researchers are developing cost-efficient materials to generate energy-rich hydrogen from water using sunlight leading to cost-effective solar-powered hydrogen generators. Worldwide efforts in developing clean energy have been propelled by ever-increasing need for energy and dwindling and environmentally damaging nature of fossil fuels. Solar energy is considered the most promising of the clean and renewable energy sources known today. While the commonly known 'solar cells' convert light directly into electrical energy, there is another type of sunlight-powered energy conversion system called 'Photo Electro Chemical' (PEC) Cells that have elicited attention in recent times due to their direct production of fuels in combination of electrical energy. On the area of research for the team from the Department of Chemistry at IIT Guwahati led by Dr Mohammad Qureshi, it said besides the commonly known solar cells' converting light directly into electrical energy, there is another type of sunlight-powered energy conversion system called PhotoElectroChemical' (PEC) that directly produce fuels in combination of electrical energy. This is the area of research for the team from the Department of Chemistry at IIT Guwahati led by Dr. Mohammad Qureshi . The team has reported their recent findings in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters . The paper has been co-authored by Prof. Mohammad Qureshi and Suhaib Alam.