With the current energy trends of many major developers looking more and more towards hydrogen fuel cells for powering mobile devices such as cars and fueling other energy generation processes for stationary structures the primary limiting factor at this point is harvesting enough raw hydrogen on a regular basis to be used for energy. To that end researchers in Shanghai are looking at developing an artificial leaf that will utilize sunlight much in the same way organic leaves do for photosynthesis to extract hydrogen molecules from water and easily convert them into useful fuel material.

In order to fully establish the artificial structure of the “leaf” that will allow for the hydrogen extraction process to take place Shanghai researchers are exploring native structures found in many local plants that have exhibited high carbon dioxide conversion capabilities such as the Royal Empress tree – a plant that can convert roughly twice as much carbon dioxide on a regular basis than normal trees and use the energy obtained from this to fuel its impressive growth cycle. Researchers hope that by being able to replicate the process in a similar fashion they will be able to obtain energy efficiently on a regular basis to fuel micro reactions that will allow for hydrogen to be steadily generated for usage in fuel cells as well as provide power for other small devices.

Hydrogen power has been seen by many environmental activists as an alternative energy with a lot of potential for usage around the world with even major car developers such as Toyota and GM developing hydrogen fuel cell based car designs, however without effective hydrogen production processes in place to provide the base material necessary to meet consumer demands the shift to hydrogen power from conventional fossil fuels may well remain a pipe dream for many developers until the technology can catch up with the public’s needs.