Hematite

Hematite (17)
Magnetite (15)
Ore mineral (39)

Synopsis: Domenii: Mining: Mining generale: Ore minerals: Hematite:

Palacci and colleagues wrapped pale polymer around tiny cubes of hematite, a dark mineral of iron and oxygen that protrudes from the spherical beads as a reddish dot.

Under blue light the hematite conducts electricity and when bathed in hydrogen peroxide will catalyze a chemical reaction to split oxygen from hydrogen.

The polymer beads surf forward on those flows in the direction of their hematite protrusions.

#Hematite're-growth'smoothes rough edges for clean energy harvest (Nanowerk News) Finding an efficient solar water splitting method to mine electron-rich hydrogen for clean

power has been thwarted by the poor performance of hematite. But by'regrowing'the mineral's surface, a smoother version of hematite doubled electrical yield, opening a new door to energy harvesting artificial photosynthesis,

according to a report published online today in the journal Nature Communications("Enabling Unassisted Solar Water Splitting by Iron Oxide and Silicon").

"Re-grown hematite proved to be a better power generating anode, producing a record low turn-on voltage that enabled the researchers to be the first to use earth-abundant hematite

and silicon as the sole light absorbers in artificial photosynthesis, said Boston College associate professor of chemistry Dunwei Wang,

By smoothing the surface of hematite, a team of researchers led by Boston College chemist Dunwei Wang achieved'unassisted'water splitting using the abundant rust-like mineral and silicon to capture and store solar energy within hydrogen gas.

but the first'meaningful efficiency ever measured by hematite and amorphous silicon, two of the most abundant elements On earth,'the team reported.'

'By simply smoothing the surface characteristics of hematite, this close cousin of rust can be improved to couple with silicon,

'Wang said the findings represent an important step toward realizing the potential performance theoretical models have predicted for hematite, an iron oxide similar to rust.'

which included researchers from Boston College, UC Berkeley and China's University of Science and Technology, decided to focus on hematite's surface imperfections,

The team reevaluated hematite surface features using a synchrotron particle accelerator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The team reported that further modifications to the new hematite-silicon method make it amenable to large-scale utilization.

Furthermore, the're-growth'technique may be applicable to other materials under study for additional breakthroughs in artificial photosynthesis.'It is a delight to see that a simple re-growth treatment can do so much to improve the performance of hematite,

'Due to its prior poor performance, hematite has been pronounced'dead'by many leading researchers in the field.

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