photocathode

FOH-toh-kath-ohdnoun

A surface that catches light and turns it into electricity.

📰 Seen in the news

NTU Singapore built an "artificial leaf" that turns dirty seawater into clean hydrogen fuel using just sunlight — and destroys a nasty industrial toxin while it works. Published in Nature Communications on 17 Sep 2026. The trick lives in a part called the photocathode.

TechXplore · NTU Singapore, 17 Sep ↗

Pick the meaning

A "photocathode" is…

The photocathode is the leaf's solar stomach

Break the word: photo = light, cathode = the negative electrode where electrons get to work. So a photocathode is a surface that absorbs light and spits out electrons — turning photons into usable electric current. Inside the artificial leaf it's made of perovskite, a crystal so good at catching light it's racing into next-gen solar panels. Light in, clean fuel out.

Keep it: photo = light · cathode = electron side. One word, two halves — and you can decode half of science this way.

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