Bionic leaf turns sunlight into liquid fuel - Printable Version +- Rogue-Nation3 (https://rogue-nation3.com) +-- Forum: Technology and Advancements (https://rogue-nation3.com/forum-61.html) +--- Forum: Science and Space...the Other Final Frontiers (https://rogue-nation3.com/forum-63.html) +--- Thread: Bionic leaf turns sunlight into liquid fuel (/thread-398.html) |
Bionic leaf turns sunlight into liquid fuel - senona - 06-07-2016 A team at Harvard University has created a system that uses solar energy to split water molecules and hydrogen-eating bacteria to produce liquid fuels. The system can convert solar energy to biomass with 10 percent efficiency, far above the one percent seen in the fastest-growing plants. Quote:Nocera, the Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy at Harvard University, and Pamela Silver, the Elliott T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, have co-created a system that uses solar energy to split water molecules and hydrogen-eating bacteria to produce liquid fuels. Quote:“The beauty of biology is it’s the world’s greatest chemist — biology can do chemistry we can’t do easily,” she said. “In principle, we have a platform that can make any downstream carbon-based molecule. So this has the potential to be incredibly versatile.” Quote:“For this paper, we designed a new cobalt-phosphorous alloy catalyst, which we showed does not make reactive oxygen species,” Nocera said. “That allowed us to lower the voltage, and that led to a dramatic increase in efficiency.” The discovery opens new potential for renewable energy but breeds many new (welcome) challenges, said Nocera.
Source This would be wonderful if it works as they say it does, and on a much larger scale. It might be a grand solution to so many things. RE: Bionic leaf turns sunlight into liquid fuel - Mystic Wanderer - 06-07-2016 Now we're getting somewhere! They are actually spending money on something useful. :biggrin: RE: Bionic leaf turns sunlight into liquid fuel - senona - 06-07-2016 (06-07-2016, 03:27 AM)Mystic Wanderer Wrote: Now we're getting somewhere! They are actually spending money on something useful. :biggrin: So very true!! It mentioned even for those living 'off the grid' Just hope it is affordable enough for your average consumer when it comes out and not just be for the wealthy. |