Thus use of hydrogen as a dependable fuel is still a long way off. Before it happens we need a viable storage solution and more importantly a viable production technique. Efficient photoelectrolysis of water to produce hydrogen and oxygen would be one good solution. It cuts out any lossy intermediates, simply: sun → water → hydrogen. The problem is that current catalysts either have very short activity times (low stability in water) or have band gaps too large to absorb a significant amount of visible light. Simulating new catalytically active materials is one of my first new research projects. One short and fulfilling step from basic to applied research.