Artificial Leaf
When chemistry professor Daniel Nocera at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed that a device the size of a poker card could split water into hydrogen and oxygen, he was merely taking a leaf out of Mother Nature’s playbook, except that he called it ‘artificial leaf’. Fashioned from silicon, electronics and catalysts, Nocera’s leaf mimics photosynthesis. When placed in about three litres of water, this ‘leaf’ produces a day’s supply of electricity to an average home in a developing country. “One can envision villages in India and Africa purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology,” says Nocera. Ratan Tata believes in the technology and forged a collaboration earlier this year.
Turning the Body’s T-cells into Cancer Killers
(This story appears in the 06 January, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)