'Artificial leaf' produces fuel through photosynthesis
10/03/2020
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed an artificial leaf that can produce synthetic gas (or ‘syngas’) without releasing carbon dioxide.
This new device works by using two light absorbers made of perovskite (used in solar panels), and a cobalt catalyst. When these are immersed in water, one side produces oxygen, while the other side reduces carbon dioxide and water to create carbon monoxide and hydrogen. These last two gases are then combined to create syngas.
While syngas can be burnt to produce electricity, it’s considered to be an intermediate step in the manufacture of products, such as plastics and fuels like diesel. That said, this is not the first ‘artificial leaf’. Harvard University in the US have produced similar technology and there are a raft of other examples out there, which claim to create fuels from solar energy.
There are still many issues, particularly with regard to the low conversion efficiencies (the Cambridge leaf, for example, produce hydrogen at an efficiency of 0.06% and carbon monoxide at 0.02%).
In the future, the Cambridge team plan to skip the syngas stage completely and make the liquid fuel in one step from carbon dioxide and water. Their goal is to create a more efficient and sustainable energy solution.
SOURCE: University of Cambridge, 21 October 2019.
Enjoying this article? Subscribe to receive the latest edition of TechWatch
Recent blogs
-
AI fighter pilot expected by 2024
19 Mar 2021
-
QinetiQ is Britain’s most admired Engineering, Aerospace and Defence company
19 Mar 2021
-
Enabling Platform Modernisation
17 Mar 2021
-
BioHarvest, Biorat 1 and GreenLung - breaking new ground in life support and air quality
16 Mar 2021
-
Continual evolution for our Advanced Data and Power Management System (ADPMS) 3rd Generation
16 Mar 2021