The quest for free or abundant energy has been at the forefront of discussion for a lot of the 21st century and before.  This fascinating discovery at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory could take us a step closer to abundant energy from the sun.

An international team has for the first time precisely tracked the surprisingly rapid process by which light rearranges the outermost electrons of a metal compound and turns it into an active catalyst – a substance that promotes chemical reactions.

The results, published April 1 in Nature, could help in the effort to develop novel catalysts to efficiently produce fuel using sunlight. The research was performed with an X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Let’s find out more of the scientific details on page 2

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