Photoelectrochemical water splitting in separate oxygen and hydrogen cells.

Solar water splitting provides a promising path for sustainable hydrogen production and solar energy storage. One of the greatest challenges towards large-scale utilization of this technology is reducing the hydrogen production cost. The conventional electrolyser architecture, where hydrogen and oxygen are co-produced in the same cell, gives rise to critical challenges in photoelectrochemical water splitting cells that directly convert solar energy and water to hydrogen.

Tunable touch sensor and combined sensing platform: toward nanoparticle-based electronic skin.

In this paper, we present touch (or pressure) flexible sensors based on monolayer-capped nanoparticles (MCNPs) that are potentially inexpensive, could allow low-voltage operation, and could provide a platform for multifunctional applications. We show that modifying the mechanical and geometrical properties of the flexible substrates, on which the MCNP films are deposited, allows measuring a large span of loads ranging between tens of mg to tens of grams. All flexible sensors exhibited repeatable responses even after a large number of bending cycles.