A New Material Can Act As An Artificial Photosynthesis

Artificial photosynthesis is considered one of the Holy Grails of environmental science. The idea of creating energy from sunlight while capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is incredibly appealing. It attracts both scientists, environmentalists, and businesses alike. For years, many different research teams have taken on the project. Now, it looks like one of those groups is finally seeing a payoff.

One of the key problems in this search is the type of light that makes it to the Earth’s surface. For years, scientists have had a technique using titanium oxide. But that requires high levels of ultraviolet (UV) light. This makes up for only four percent of the light at sea level.The UCF team, led by assistant professor Fernando Uribe-Romo, looked at fitting titanium with some sort of organic antennae. Their aim was to enable it to more easily capture the visible spectrum of light. However, they encountered many problems on their way.

But these became more solvable with the introduction of the MOF. The Metal Organic Framework is another new material created by modern science. These tiny, porous structures found a massive use in recent scientific techniques.

As such, the MOF was able to structure the organic compounds. The machine fashioned by the team looks very much like a tanning bed. As CO2 is fed through this photoreactor, a chemical process kicks in. This converts the carbon into formate and formamides, both a potential fuel. Thereby, the scientists seemed to have managed to create artificial photosynthesis.

 A paper with the research results was released in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.