New way to tap sunlight?

Press, 1 September 1977, Page 8

New way to tap sunlight?

NZPA-Reuter Pasadena, California

The development of a chemical compound that can convert sunlight directly into fuel has been announced by California Institute of Technology chemists.

In the chemical process, natural gas is produced by the play of sunlight on a newly-discovered compound containing the metal, rhodium, according to an institute spokesman, Mr Dennis Meredith. He said a lot more work remained to be done to produce natural gas economically from the compound. “But it’s a breakthrough,” he said, “an important first step.” The discovery was made by two chemists Dr Harry Gray and Dr Kent Mann, who developed the complex compound in Pasadena laboratories last year. “Only recently did they discover the chemical could be used in solar power, schemes,” Mr Meredith said. The two chemists will deliver a paper on their discovery at the American Chemical Society convention in Chicago today. “Although the compound is still in the experimental stages, its discovery raises the possibility of converting sunlight into fuel with much greater efficiency than schemes to convert either solar produced electricity or I plant material into fuels,” [ Mr Meredith said.

The rhodium compound is expensive to produce, and experiments are now going on to use such cheaper metals as iron and nickel.