① Japanese scientists have successfully replicated photosynthesis in plants; ② The new system produces methane from carbon dioxide (CO2), water, and sunlight, a high-energy fuel. ③ Scientists used materials that are low cost and easy to expand.
Financial News Agency, December 22 (Editor Huang Junzhi) Solar panels that use solar energy to generate electricity are becoming more and more common. But in fact, while humans were still mastering the conversion of solar energy into fuel, plants had already perfected this process through photosynthesis.
Recently, a group of researchers from Japan reported that they have replicated this natural process to produce methane from carbon dioxide (CO2), water, and sunlight, a high-energy fuel. Their innovative prototype system could pave the way to replace non-renewable fossil fuels. The latest research results have recently been published in the “ACS Engineering Au” magazine.
Although methane is a greenhouse gas, it is also a fuel with a high energy density and is a major component of natural gas. Fossil fuels, including natural gas, take millions of years to form, and extracting them from the environment can have harmful effects.
Finding ways to produce methane from renewable energy can help reduce demand for non-renewable fossil fuels over time. And the Sun is one of the most sustainable and abundant energy sources on Earth.
Previously, Kazunari Domen and her colleagues at the University of Tokyo in Japan developed a system that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Now they want to evolve this process to more fully mimic photosynthesis, absorb carbon dioxide, and store solar energy in methane, while still using materials that are low cost and easy to expand.
Specifically, the team created a set of reaction cells similar to solar panels, each coated with a layer of aluminum-doped strontium titanate (SrTiO3) photocatalyst to help power the reaction.
These coated batteries are filled with water and placed in sunlight. Under these conditions, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen, the two gases are separated, and the purified hydrogen is fed into the second part of the system. In the second chamber, hydrogen reacts with carbon dioxide to form methane and water, which is recycled through a photoreactor to the first step.
Next, they created a 130-square-foot battery array that worked for three days in a variety of weather conditions. Researchers say the proof-of-concept system could be used to help produce precursors for plastics or other chemical feedstocks, or it could be scaled up to produce more sustainable biofuels.
While the prospects are promising, the research team recognises that the efficiency of artificial photosynthesis systems needs to be improved before these devices become viable options for large-scale power generation.