Electrofuels Bump Up Solar Efficiency

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://cen.acs.org/articles/89/i48/Electrofuels-Bump-Solar-Efficiency.html

Volume 89 Issue 48 | November 28, 2011 | pp. 36-37 | Stories

Electrofuels Bump Up Solar Efficiency

Budding technologies provide nonphotosynthetic pathways to convert sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into fuels

By Stephen K. Ritter

Photosynthesis is nature’s way of storing energy from the sun in the form of electrons in chemical bonds. Humankind has long taken advantage of this process by using fossil fuels and biomass to produce heat, transportation fuels, and electricity. But photosynthesis is not efficient at converting sunlight into usable energy, and future global energy demand is expected to outstrip nature’s ability to provide the fuels we have grown to depend on.

Scientists and engineers are seeking ways to improve on photosynthesis, and some of them convened in Providence, R.I., earlier this month at the http://electrofuels.aiche.org/">Society for Biological Engineering’s inaugural conference on electrofuels research to discuss their progress. Specifically, the conference focused on projects funded by the electrofuels program of the http://arpa-e.energy.gov/ProgramsProjects/Electrofuels.aspx">Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

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Nocera’s team formulated a cobalt borate photocatalyst for absorbing sunlight and splitting water to make H⁺ and O₂. The catalyst closely mimics the properties of photosynthesis’s oxygen-evolving complex, including possessing self-healing properties that stabilize and extend the lifetime of the catalyst (http://www.cen-online.org/articles/88/i27/Fuel-Sun.html">C&EN, July 5, 2010, page 26). Nocera’s group also developed an efficient nickel-molybdenum-zinc alloy photocatalyst to couple H⁺ ions to form H₂ (Science, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1209816">DOI: 10.1126/science.1209816).

With the two catalysts, Nocera’s MIT group, working with Steven Y. Reece and Thomas D. Jarvi and coworkers at http://www.suncatalytix.com/">Sun Catalytix, a company Nocera founded, created an “artificial leaf.” The wireless solar-cell device mimics the ability of a natural leaf to convert sunlight into storable energy, Nocera explained. But it’s about 10 times more efficient than photosynthesis, he said.

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[midnight]

1. Like the idea of focusing on photosynthesis and trying to duplicate the process for our energy

needs.. This idea sounds a lot more compact than a nuclear reactor and a lot more safe..