It sounds almost too good to be true — but chemists believe they have made a key breakthrough that would allow them to mimic photosynthesis and solve the world’s energy crisis. Daniel Nocera and Matthew Kanan at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge have discovered a simple, inexpensive system that can help to split water to produce oxygen and hydrogen gas. The process could, they suggest, be powered by solar photovoltaic cells. electrolysisA snapshot showing the new, efficient oxygen catalyst in action in Dan Nocera's laboratory at MIT.MIT/NSF This would give a crucial boost to solar power’s potential to...