Scientists develop a new way of turning sunlight into fuel



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"During the evolution, this process was disabled because it was not necessary to survive, but we managed to bypass the inactivity to achieve the reaction we wanted – divide it. water in hydrogen and oxygen ".

Finding practical and environmentally friendly artificial photosynthesis has been a challenge.

One of the longest efforts not only to develop more renewable energy, but also to help mitigate climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is a process called artificial photosynthesis.

Plants "divide" water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen during this process, and hydrogen has a zero emission fuel potential that can provide an unlimited renewable source of energy. The new article, recently published in Nature Energy, explains how academics at Cambridge's Reisner Laboratory have developed their platform for unassisted solar water separation.

The procedure converts hydrogen into electrical energy and stores it in a cell, the only byproduct being heat and water.

A team of researchers led by Falcon not only was able to increase the number of energy produced and stored, but also activated the process of photosynthesis in algae, which was inactive for thousands of years.

With the help of biological components and human technologies, the team used natural sunlight to divide the water into hydrogen and oxygen.

A new study, conducted by academics from St John's College at Cambridge University, has used semi-artificial photosynthesis to find new ways to produce and store solar energy.

A group of scientists from the University of Cambridge, under the direction of Erwin Reisner, invented a unique method of producing fuel from water, combining artificial photosynthesis with the forces of the natural phenomena of origin. The scientist's prototype system is able to absorb more light than the natural photosynthesis process. This type exploits the capabilities of pure enzymes and combines them with human-created skills to overcome the obstacles associated with purely human photosynthesis. "The conversion of solar energy to create fuels and renewable chemicals is a mandatory strategy to power our society in a post-fossil generation," Reisner told Newsweek.

"Hydrogenase is an enzyme found in algae, can reduce protons to hydrogen".

She added: "It is exciting that we can selectively choose the processes we want and achieve the response we want, which is unattainable nature".

"This work overcomes many of the challenges associated with the integration of biological and organic components in inorganic materials for semi-artificial device assembly and opens a toolbox for the development of future energy conversion systems. solar". Semi-artificial solutions, like the new technique, offer a safer and potentially less expensive toolbox to build solar energy conversion systems in the future.

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