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Researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a first-of-kind device that converts sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into carbon-neutral fuel. This conversion takes place without requiring any additional components or electricity. This device is a major step towards achieving artificial photosynthesis, which is a process mimicking the ability of plants to convert sunlight into energy. The device is based on an advanced ‘photosheet’ technology and converts sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and formic acid which is a storable fuel that can be either be used directly or be converted into hydrogen.

According to the report in the journal New Energy, the results represent a brand new method to convert CO2 (carbon dioxide) into clean fuels. The production of this device can be scaled up to be used on energy ‘farms’ similar to solar farms, producing clean fuel using sunlight and water. “It’s been difficult to achieve artificial photosynthesis with a high degree of selectivity, so that you’re converting as much of the sunlight as possible into the fuel you want, rather than be left with a lot of waste,” said first author Dr Qian Wang from Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry. “In addition, storage of gaseous fuels and separation of by-products can be complicated — we want to get to the point where we can cleanly produce a liquid fuel that can also be easily stored and transported,” said Professor Erwin Reisner, the paper’s senior author.

This new wireless device is sturdy and produces clean fuel that is easier to store and shows potential for producing fuel products at scale. The size of the test unit is 20 square centimetres, however, the researchers believe that it should be relatively straightforward to scale it up to several square meters. Moreover, the formic acid can be accumulated in solution, and be chemically converted into different types of fuel. “We were surprised how well it worked in terms of its selectivity — it produced almost no by-products,” said Wang. “Sometimes things don’t work as well as you expected, but this was a rare case where it actually worked better.”

Excerpted from https://www.wionews.com/science/artificial-photosynthesis-device-that-converts-sunlight-co2-and-water-into-clean-fuel-322975