Artificial leaf converts water + sunlight into H2/O2

[spinningmagnets]

Sounds good?...Stephen Friend is a rich guy who owns a large property on an island. He and his neighbors had been using diesel fuel that has to be brought in by boat to power charge their large battery packs when there wasn't enough sun/wind to keep their off-grid power system full. He invested in a refrigerator-sized fuel-cell, and added components to his system to use his large solar PV panels to electrolyze water into H2/O2, and the H2 was compressed into storage tanks to be used in winter on cloudy days.
http://www.hfcletter.com/issues/XXII_9/stories/978-1.html

If this new artificial leaf really works, producing cheap H2 on-site for a fuel-cell feedstock might be a great advancement whether the sun/wind are available or not.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509123900.htm
"...Nocera replaced the platinum catalyst that produces hydrogen gas with a less-expensive nickel-molybdenum-zinc compound. On the other side of the leaf, a cobalt film generates oxygen gas. Nocera notes that all of these materials are abundant on Earth, unlike the rare and expensive platinum, noble metal oxides and semiconducting materials others have used..."