Artificial photosynthesis, the future of energy production?
13 June 2019 | Written by La redazione
A long-sought process that could give an enormous contribute to green energy production: for now it is still in its infancy but the research is fast.
The search for new ways of producing energy is a fundamental theme of technological innovation. A continuous struggle with entropy, which we cannot win but which against which we can unleash new weapons that are increasingly efficient and above all less impacting on the environment.
Photosynthesis. There are many kinds of research that investigate ways to find new solutions: one of these, as often happens, takes inspiration from nature. It is a process that recalls chlorophyll photosynthesis, which is what allows plants to use water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to generate glucose, the sugar that nourishes plants. This artificial photosynthesis works slightly differently. It uses a catalyst of non-organic material, titanium dioxide in this case, which has a particular honeycomb shape, a three-dimensional molecular structure that has many empty spaces. It is precisely in these spaces that chemical reactions can take place which, through ultraviolet light and CO2, make it possible to generate biofuel. And the biofuel is the key to this innovation, the amount of CO2 emitted and that used to create it are balanced: the environmental impact is therefore very small and, unlike other forms of energy, it can be stored for long periods without the requirement of a dedicated infrastructure.
Other ways. This is not the only example of artificial photosynthesis. Others, in fact, are being tested and are using different materials to obtain different fuels: all, however, have in common the use of light and the absorption of CO2. This means that on the one hand a virtually infinite source of energy is used, such as solar energy, on the other hand, CO2 is absorbed from the atmosphere, an operation that could make a major contribution to the fight against climate change.
Advantages and disadvantages. Such technology is able to convert solar energy directly into a form of energy – biofuels in this case – immediately storable. Photovoltaics to accumulate energy must make several passes: from solar to electricity, then in chemical energy and then again in electricity, and each step causes the energy to lose in conversion. On the other hand, artificial photosynthesis processes are very cheap, because they use uncommon materials in complex shapes and structures, which therefore require a lot of processing before they can be used: this makes, at least for now, this technology unripe, not very competitive in a market where the economic value – but not the environmental value – of the energy produced with polluting methods is however more convenient.
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