Researchers have developed a potentially game-changing solar cell that essentially does the work of plants — converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into usable hydrocarbon fuel using only sunlight for energy.
“The new solar cell is not photovoltaic – it’s photosynthetic,” said senior study author Amin Salehi-Khojin from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“Instead of producing energy in an unsustainable one-way route from fossil fuels to greenhouse gas, we can now reverse the process and recycle atmospheric carbon into fuel using sunlight,” he added.
While plants produce fuel in the form of sugar, the artificial leaf delivers syngas, or synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide. Syngas can be burned directly, or converted into diesel or other hydrocarbon fuels.
The ability to turn CO2 into fuel at a cost comparable to a gallon of gasoline would render fossil fuels obsolete.