Artificial leaves: Bionic photosynthesis as good as the real thing

Synthetic leaves mimic photosynthesis, the process by which plants use water and carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates using sunlight. In natural photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms use the sun's rays to produce molecules rich in water and carbon dioxide. Synthetic photosynthesis made from bionic leaves is 10 times more efficient than natural photosynthesis. Surprisingly, the group's biomimetic leaf is more efficient at converting solar energy than its inspiration, the natural photosynthesis of photosynthesis itself.

Nocera's Bionic Leaf uses the principles of photosynthesis to help convert CO2 emissions into energy. The bionic leaf can produce fertilizer through renewable energy, allowing for the continuous production of ammonia and biofertilizers. To date, the bionic sheet has produced isopropanol, isobutanol, and isopentenyl, but the team also discovered that a molecule that could be used in bioplastics could also be made. The bionic sheet is the result of Nocera's synthetic sheet that separates water into hydrogen and oxygen gas by combining silicon, solar panels, and catalyst coatings.

By combining synthetic leaves of Nocera's with genetic hydrogen bacteria, they create a "bionic leaf" that can produce liquid fuels such as isobutanol. His team also developed a bacterium that can convert hydrogen produced by the leaves into liquid fuel. Harvard professor Daniel Nocera and his team developed a synthetic leaf called Bionic Leaf 2.0 which, when immersed in water, converts sunlight into hydrogen and oxygen into oxygen.

After making the artificial leaf Noceras, chemist Daniel Nocera met with biochemist Pamela Silver to explore new technologies. Daniel Nocera, a professor of energy science at Harvard University, pioneered synthetic photosynthesis and is now working with Pamela Silver at Harvard Medical School to develop an artificial intelligence system that goes beyond photosynthesis itself, photosynthesis itself. Noceras' research differs from that of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a US Department of Energy-sponsored program that seeks to use inorganic catalysts, not bacteria, to convert hydrogen and carbon dioxide into liquid fuels.

In a leaf, solar energy breaks down water molecules, while bacteria convert hydrogen and carbon dioxide into delicious fuel. Some chemical reactions produce oxygen, as in photosynthesis, and convert carbon dioxide into a water-soluble solution into methanol.

If the goal is to produce hydrogen in water, this can be done by using solar energy to drive an electrolysis system that uses electricity to extract hydrogen from water. Hydrogen can be stored locally and used to power fuel cells, providing a way to store and use solar energy. Instead of converting sunlight into electricity, photoelectrochemical cell-like cells act as catalysts, distributing solar energy and separating water into oxygen and hydrogen.

The synthetic photosynthetic block inside the capsule contains a light absorber mixed with catalysts that converts carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which can be absorbed and used as a basis for various synthetic oils. Bionic Leaf is a biomimetic system that harvests solar energy using photovoltaic cells that can be stored or used for various purposes. Therefore, the bionic sheet can be immersed in water and, when exposed to the sun, directly convert solar energy by separating water.

The new method, described in a paper published today in the journal Nature Energy, was inspired by the way plants use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into food. The idea of ​​a synthetic device that can convert solar energy into usable fuel has been mocked by researchers since the 1970s. Just one year later, researchers at Lund University announced a “marvelous” artificial leaf based on transformed molecules capable of harvesting solar energy and acting as a catalyst. Researchers at the Berkeley Lab have been focusing on the production of solar hydrogen, thinking that the amount of energy-saving hydrogen it will help create is less expensive in the commercialization of synthetic leaves.

Its modified leaves will use carbon dioxide in the air - a powerful greenhouse gas - to convert carbon dioxide into fuel at least 10 times more efficiently than natural leaves. That is enough to make you envious of the plants that produce their energy through photosynthesis, which in turn consumes the carbon dioxide that causes the greenhouse effect.

Normal photosynthesis in plants is 1% effective in converting solar energy into biomass. There are many barriers to the transformation of energy into natural systems that limit the perfect functioning of photosynthesis. Now that the wind and the sun are so cheap, it is not clear why researchers are still so eager to build synthetic photosynthesis.

The result is a playing card the size of a simple, fully man-made paper, capable of using 10 percent of the energy of photosynthesis, compared to 1% in nature and up to 4% in algae. Meanwhile, Harvard energy professor Daniel Nocera and his colleagues have developed what they call a “bionic leaf,” using sunlight to convert water and microbes specially designed for bacteria. Liquid fuel systems. The group method predicts that the soil bacterium Flavobacterium autotrophs absorbs hydrogen produced by the water-soluble biomimetic reaction and absorbs nitrogen from the atmosphere to produce ammonia and phosphorus, a powerful fertilizer.

The team had its first unit of synthetic photosynthesis in 2015 - pumping 216 milligrams of alcohol per gallon of water - but the nickel-molybdenum-zinc catalyst made its water-splitting chemistry extremely harmful to the system.