Antenna molecule drives solar hydrogen generation.

It would be convenient if gigantic reservoirs of molecular hydrogen H2(g) existed in the earth’s crust that could be safely tapped as an energy source. Instead, most hydrogen found near the earth’s surface is bound up in water as protons, H(aq) that must be reduced before utilization as a fuel (1). When the electrons for proton reduction come from the oxidation of water to O2(g), this redox chemistry is commonly referred to as “water splitting”: