A Solar Fuels Lab was officially opened at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on Tuesday to produce hydrogen fuel from water and sunlight by recreating the energy producing process in plants.

The laboratory will be the first of its kind in Asia, the university said.

When perfected, the "artificial leaf" technology can help reduce dependence on crude oil and ease concerns for global warming and climate change, it said.

Jointly managed by the university's School of Materials Science and Engineering and the Energy Research Institute, the new Solar Fuels Laboratory aims to develop a device that can extract large amounts of hydrogen from water using sunlight.

Current technology requires huge amounts of energy to draw minute amounts of hydrogen from water, making it commercially unviable to do so.

The university said it was confident of finding a solution.

"Inspired by the way leaves use sunlight to produce energy, we can mimic nature and perfect water-splitting technology. We can then convert solar energy into hydrogen in large quantities in a clean and sustainable manner," said Bertil Andersson, president- designate of the university and a renowned biochemist.

"Nature has lots of wonderful ways to renew itself. We can learn a lot from Nature, if we look hard enough, to find sustainable solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems," said Andersson.

The primary objective of the researchers involved in the program is to develop a commercially viable solar-driven technology by finding suitable combinations of chemical catalysts that can speed up the artificial photosynthesis process using minimal energy.

The team working on the project will include a number of prominent scientists from the United States and Europe.

The lab is an initiative in support of Sustainable Earth, one of the areas where the university hopes to excel. Other areas include Future Healthcare, New Media, New Silk Road and Innovation Asia.