The cell is mostly made of inexpensive materials that are widely available, works under simple conditions, and shows increased stability over previous catalysts: in laboratory studies, the authors demonstrated that an artificial leaf prototype could operate continuously for at least forty-five hours without a drop in activity. In May 2012, Sun Catalytix, the startup based on Nocera's research, stated that it will not be scaling up the prototype as the device offers few savings over other ways to make hydrogen from sunlight. (Sun Catalytix ended up later pivoting away from solar fuel to develop batteries to store energy for the power grid instead, and Lockheed bought the company for an undisclosed amount in 2014)