New Solar Leaf removes CO2 from Atmosphere and Converts It into Useable Fuel

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New Solar Leaf removes CO2 from Atmosphere and Converts It into Useable Fuel

French Tribune

- ‎Aug 2, 2016‎

Researchers at Harvard University have even created hydrogen through synthetic photosynthesis in a process they say is 10 times more efficient than in nature, as The Christian Science Monitor's Jason Thomson reported in June. “You can use hydrogen as a ...

Scientists turn over a new leaf to find fuel made from CO2World Tech Today

New Solar Leaf removes CO2 from Atmosphere and Converts It into Useable Fuel

Submitted by Bruce Totolos on Tue, 08/02/2016 - 06:48

A team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago has developed a new kind of solar leaf that not just helps in removing harmful greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but also converts the gas into useable fuel.
The new system takes sunlight as energy from the sun and converts atmospheric CO2 into fuel, which is efficient and low-priced than the fuel we use today, as per the researchers. Unlike other solar cell devices, which take sunlight and convert it into electricity, the new leaf mimics photosynthesis to remove the harmful gas from earth’s atmosphere and create sustainable forms of energy, as per a new study on the leaf.
The new device is photosynthetic, said lead author Amin Salehi-Khojin of mechanical and industrial engineering at the University of Illinois. “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”, Salehi-Khojin added in a statement.
Work of the new leaf developed by the researchers is similar to function of a plant’s leaf. But, instead of converting CO2 into sugar, the device changes the gaseous compound into synthesis gas, which could be used as fuel by converting it into hydrocarbon fuels, stated the study.
Converting atmospheric CO2 into useable fuel isn’t a new concept as researchers, in the past, tried breaking the carbon dioxide gas into useable energy. But, those researchers used silver and some other expensive materials to convert the gas into burnable energy. In the new study, the researchers used a different approach where they used a nano-structured compound, TMCD, to break the greenhouse gas.
The researchers believe their device could be used throughout a solar farm, or in a number of smaller applications.