A device that effectively mimics the natural process of photosynthesis would represent a massive breakthrough for energy researchers, and a team from the University of Cambridge has been at the cutting edge of these technologies for the better part of decade. Its latest step forward involves a wireless sheet packed with photocatalysts that can convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into clean fuels, with the team hoping to one day use the device as part of giant energy farms.
The research was carried out by a group working under Professor Erwin Reisner in the university’s department of chemistry, which has made a number of promising advances in energy research over the past decade. In 2013 it demonstrated how hydrogen could be produced using cobalt as a cheap catalyst, and in 2017 showed how the gas could be made using biomass as the starting point.
Most recently, we looked at a type of artificial leaf developed by the group, which much like natural leaves, converts sunlight and water into fuel – in this case syngas made of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This device captured sunlight through perovskite light absorbers, a component in some solar cells, but the team has now made some tweaks to its approach. Rather than the perovskite light absorbers, the new platform relies on novel photocatalysts embedded in a sheet made up of semiconductor powders, which can be produced easily and cheaply.
The 20 cm2(3.1 in2) sheet developed as a test unit was used to convert sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and formic acid (rather than syngas), which can be stored easily for direct use as fuel or later used as a building block for hydrogen.
