Chasing the holy grail in water splitting

Kazuhiko Maeda (from Tokyo Institute of Technology) explains well in his recent review that a Z-scheme photocatalyst system can make dreams come true: producing hydrogen and oxygen gases from water by sunlight. Combining a H₂ evolution photocatalyst with an O₂ evolving one is known for sometime as the key for ultimate artificial photosynthesis. Although hopeful developments exist (as also elaborated in this 15-page-long-and-strong article), I don't feel much optimistic about this photocatalytic water splitting in general. A cold-fusion-like fate is certainly not out of sight. We have to be careful. 

Dip coating CdSe nanorod tips with Gold

Sheldon et al. (from Alivisatos group at UC Berkeley) reported 100,000 fold increase in the conductance of the CdSe nanorods by dipping the ends into gold. The procedure they followed was very simple:

a toluene solution containing gold trichloride (AuCl3, 12 mg, 0.04 mmol), didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB, 40 mg, 0.08 mmol), and dodecylamine (DDA, 70 mg, 0.37 mmol) was sonicated for 5 min and then added dropwise to a suspension of nanorods stirring under N2. The product was precipitated with methanol
and separated by centrifugation.

CdSe Nanocrystal Synthesis Video

Youtube finally has something that actually will help nanoscientists: A video of CdSe Nanocrystal Synthesis at Bawendi Labs MIT.