spinach create alternative energy

Spinach

Jakarta - Spinach not only provide power for the character Popeye the sailor. Plants are often eaten as a nutritious vegetable is also turned out to be environmentally friendly fuel.
Researchers have long tried to mimic the photosynthetic organisms to harness sunlight, to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, and then reacts with carbon dioxide to produce sugar as an energy source.
Now, a team of scientists led by Hugh O'Neill from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, United States (U.S.) combining a light protein with a compound known as block copolymers and the platinum catalyst to produce a membrane that produces hydrogen from sunlight.
Reported by New Scientist and quoted on Thursday (02/10/2011), O'Neill and his team extract protein II (LHC-II) complex from spinach and add it to a liquid containing copolymers and sodium hexachloroplatinate converted into platinum thanks to the help of the sun.
Furthermore, these proteins interact with the copolymers, formed themselves into layered sheets as membranes that are naturally found in the membranes of photosynthesis.
"When examined, the membrane is apparently producing hydrogen. It is known after firing a number of neutrons in the membrane samples and measuring the refraction of the radiation to determine what elements they contain," said O'Neill.
Mentioned by him, the protein molecules absorb sunlight and releases electrons to move it to the nearest platinum molecules. Platinum is then catalyze the reduction of protons to hydrogen gas ready for use as fuel


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