Light whips platinum into shape
Researchers have created a platinum foam that can catalyze the splitting of water. John Shelnutt of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque and his collaborators embedded light-absorbing molecules called porphyrins in the membranes of water-filled vesicles called liposomes. Then, the researchers placed these liposomes in an acidic solution containing platinum ions.
When energized with light from an overhead projector lamp, the porphyrins initiated a series of reactions resulting in the conversion of platinum ions into their electrically neutral form.