Structural and Mechanistic Studies of the Oxygen Evolving Centre in Photosystem II

从电力和水源（如海水）中生产氢燃料代表了本文所述研究的最终目标。这是一项名为“人工光合作用”的整体计划的一部分，旨在产生清洁的可再生能源。目前的项目是这一雄心勃勃的计划的重要一步，直接解决了使人工光合作用可行必须克服的关键障碍。这个障碍是将水有效地转化为氢和氧，这是一个分为两部分的过程，其中氢和氧在化学上是最困难的。该项目旨在“窃取大自然的秘密”，通过破译并在技术上模仿植物进行这些过程的高效手段。

Hydrogen fuel production from electricity and water sources, such as sea water, represents the ultimate goal for the research described here. This is part of an overall scheme, called "Artificial Photosynthesis", to generate clean renewable energy. The present project is an important step in this ambitious program and directly addresses a key hurdle which must be overcome to make artificial photosynthesis feasible. This hurdle is the efficient electrical conversion of water into hydrogen and oxygen, a two part process of which the latter is the most chemically difficult. The project aims to 'steal nature's secrets', by deciphering and then technologically mimicking the highly efficient means by which plants carry out these processes.