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Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have harnessed the power of photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into fuels and alcohols at efficiencies far greater than plants. The achievement marks a significant milestone in the effort to move toward sustainable sources of fuel.
Many systems have successfully reduced carbon dioxide to chemical and fuel precursors, such as carbon monoxide or a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen known as syngas. This new work, described in a study published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, is the first to successfully demonstrate the approach of going from carbon dioxide directly to target products, namely ethanol and ethylene, at energy conversion efficiencies rivaling natural counterparts
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For this JCAP study, researchers engineered a complete system to work at different times of day, not just at a light energy level of 1-sun illumination, which is equivalent to the peak of brightness at high noon on a sunny day. They varied the brightness of the light source to show that the system remained efficient even in low light conditions.When the researchers coupled the electrodes to silicon photovoltaic cells, they achieved solar conversion efficiencies of 3 to 4 percent for 0.35 to 1-sun illumination. Changing the configuration to a high-performance, tandem solar cell connected in tandem yielded a conversion efficiency to hydrocarbons and oxygenates exceeding 5 percent at 1-sun illumination.
The ethanol-fueled rejoice.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @04:49AM (1 child)
Those kind of fuels are excellent mechanisms by which to store energy: Let's produce those fuels on large energy "farms", and then transport them to centralized locations that can be designed to burn them cleanly for the purpose of local electricity generation/distribution; the "end user" need only ever deal with electricity, thereby allowing other forms of energy generation/distribution (e.g., thoreum reactors, wind, solar, etc.) to be used as necessary.
(Score: 1, Funny) by XivLacuna on Wednesday September 20 2017, @05:07AM
That sad feel when we don't have self-flying VTOL aircraft for the masses and a dyson swarm. Streets are overrated.