Tuesday, 3 June, 2025 / Edition 61

And just like that, we’re halfway through the year! There is light at the end of the 2025 tunnel! And speaking of light, this edition is full of it. We will look at how colorblind geos might benefit from new contact lenses that convert visible light to infrared light. Then, we will explore a new study that generated electricity by splitting water with sunlight. Let’s dig in!

Sarah Compton

Editor, Enspired

Contact Lenses Get a Nanoparticle Boost

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We humans have five senses, but we’re highly reliant on our sight. Geoscience is often even more reliant on sight—both in terms of visual acuity and the ability to discern specific colors.

Why it matters: Discerning colors is key for geos in the field and office. We need to see color when:

• We have to interpret or build maps and seismic data

• We need to discern fine details from an outcrop

The challenge: I’ve met a colorblind geologist at nearly every place I’ve worked, despite only 8 percent of men and less than 1 percent of women being diagnosed as colorblind. For those geos, color-centric job tasks can be extremely challenging.

What’s new: Chinese neuroscientists and materials scientists have created contact lenses that convert infrared light into visible light.

About the new tech: The technology uses infrared-absorbing nanoparticles that convert near-infrared wavelengths (i.e. in the 800–1,600 nanometer range) into wavelengths visible to mammalian eyes.

• The team combined the nanoparticles with flexible, nontoxic polymers that are used in standard soft contact lenses.

• When the lenses were tested on mice, brain imaging revealed that infrared light caused the mice’s visual processing centers to light up and their pupils constricted in the presence of near-infrared light—just like they would in the presence of visible light.

• The team tested the lenses in humans and saw similar results: Participants could accurately detect flashing, morse code-like signals and perceive the direction of incoming infrared light.

• The close proximity to the retina causes the converted light to scatter, which means the lenses can’t capture high-resolution infrared information, yet.

What’s next:

• “In the future, by working together with materials scientists and optical experts, we hope to make a contact lens with more precise spatial resolution and higher sensitivity,” said Tian Xue, a neuroscientist at the University of Science and Technology of China and senior author on the paper.

• Researchers also mentioned that engineering the nanoparticles to color-code different infrared wavelengths could allow the lenses to be modified to help color-blind people see wavelengths that they would otherwise be unable to detect.

Geos could also help build this tech. While we don’t immediately come to mind as “optical experts,” we are experts in the key pieces needed, including refraction of energy through different mediums and focusing scattered signals.

Learn more: To learn more about the contact lenses, check out this write-up or this journal article.

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Harnessing the Power of Water Using the Sun

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Sunlight-driven water splitting is essentially drying something out by laying it in the sun, and it’s a pathway some people are examining for green energy production.

What’s new: Recently, a group of Japanese scientists tried to decrease the amount of energy needed to generate green hydrogen using sunlight-driven water splitting. The proof of concept performed better in the real world than in laboratory conditions.

What they did: The researchers built a panel reactor with photocatalytic sheets that splits water using the power of sunlight. Photocatalysts promote chemical reactions—in this case, splitting hydrogen and oxygen.

• A one-step excitation system breaks apart the hydrogen and oxygen in water. Researchers say that this process is inefficient and delivers a low solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion rate.

• A two-step excitation process, where each element gets its own photocatalyst dedicated to its evolution, is much more efficient.

• The panel then stores the sun’s energy as fuel for future reactions, which helps alleviate some of the intermittency of solar energy related to clouds and nighttime.

Why it matters: Hydrogen often requires more energy than it yields, especially when “green” methods are implemented to remove the hydrogen from its source.

• Thus, only about 0.1 percent of the world’s produced hydrogen can truly be thought of as “green.” This study proposes a new green method.

What they are saying: “Sunlight-driven water splitting using photocatalysts is an ideal technology for solar-to-chemical energy conversion and storage,” said Kazunari Domen, a senior author of the study from Shinshu University.

He continued, “and recent developments in photocatalytic materials and systems raise hopes for its realization.”

What’s next: “The most important aspect to develop is the efficiency of solar-to-chemical energy conversion by photocatalysts,” Domen said. “If it is improved to a practical level, many researchers will work seriously on the development of mass production technology and gas separation processes, as well as large-scale plant construction.”

• There are also opportunities to beef up materials so that they can better withstand daily start-ups and shutdown operations, while also increasing the conversion efficiency to help keep reactors as small as possible.

For the story from Popular Mechanics, go here, and for the published paper, check this out.

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