A widely-used gas that is currently produced from fossil fuels can instead be made by an 'artificial leaf' that uses only sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, and which could eventually be used to develop a sustainable liquid fuel alternative to petrol.
Rather than running on fossil fuels, the artificial leaf is powered by sunlight, although it still works efficiently on cloudy and overcast days.
Unlike the current industrial processes for producing syngas, the leaf does not release any additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Syngas is currently made from a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and is used to produce a range of commodities, such as fuels, pharmaceuticals, plastics and fertilisers.
"OMV has been an avid supporter of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for the past seven years. The team's fundamental research to produce syngas as the basis for liquid fuel in a carbon neutral way is ground-breaking," said Michael-Dieter Ulbrich, Senior Advisor at OMV. Other 'artificial leaf' devices have also been developed, but these usually only produce hydrogen.
"What we'd like to do next, instead of first making syngas and then converting it into liquid fuel, is to make the liquid fuel in one step from carbon dioxide and water," said Reisner, who is also a Fellow of St John's College.
"It's challenging to produce it in one step from sunlight using the carbon dioxide reduction reaction. But we are confident that we are going in the right direction, and that we have the right catalysts, so we believe we will be able to produce a device that can demonstrate this process in the near future."
https://techxplore.com/news/2019-10-artificial-leaf-successfully-gas.html
Rather than running on fossil fuels, the artificial leaf is powered by sunlight, although it still works efficiently on cloudy and overcast days.
Unlike the current industrial processes for producing syngas, the leaf does not release any additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Syngas is currently made from a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and is used to produce a range of commodities, such as fuels, pharmaceuticals, plastics and fertilisers.
"OMV has been an avid supporter of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for the past seven years. The team's fundamental research to produce syngas as the basis for liquid fuel in a carbon neutral way is ground-breaking," said Michael-Dieter Ulbrich, Senior Advisor at OMV. Other 'artificial leaf' devices have also been developed, but these usually only produce hydrogen.
"What we'd like to do next, instead of first making syngas and then converting it into liquid fuel, is to make the liquid fuel in one step from carbon dioxide and water," said Reisner, who is also a Fellow of St John's College.
"It's challenging to produce it in one step from sunlight using the carbon dioxide reduction reaction. But we are confident that we are going in the right direction, and that we have the right catalysts, so we believe we will be able to produce a device that can demonstrate this process in the near future."
https://techxplore.com/news/2019-10-artificial-leaf-successfully-gas.html
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