Scientists Use Solar to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Fuel

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Chicago recently came out with a new study illustrating how they were able to convert carbon dioxide into a usable energy source using sunlight.

The researchers modeled their process off of photosynthesis; just as trees and other plants slowly capture carbon dioxide and use sunlight to convert it to energy-storing sugars, the Argonne researchers converted their carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide. To convert the carbon dioxide, however, they first needed to find a catalyst.

“On its own, it is quite difficult to convert carbon dioxide into something else,” said Argonne chemist Larry Curtiss, who helped author the study. Carbon dioxide is a relatively unreactive chemical and needs some kind of catalyst to help convert it. Plants use organic catalysts called enzymes. The researchers used an inorganic metal compound, tungsten diselenide, that is sometimes used as a semiconductor on solar panels. “In photosynthesis, trees need energy from light, water, and carbon dioxide in order to make their fuel; in our experiment, the ingredients are the same, but the product is different.”

The researchers thus created a kind of “leaf” that was coated with tungsten diselenide flakes. When the sun’s light hits the leaf, a chemical process occurs that creates protons, electrons, and oxygen molecules. When those elements reach with carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water are produced.

While carbon monoxide is still a greenhouse gas, it’s much more reactive than carbon dioxide and can easily be made into usable fuel like methanol. “Making fuel from carbon monoxide means travelling ‘downhill’ energetically, while trying to create it directly from carbon dioxide means needing to go ‘uphill,’” said Argonne physicist Peter Zapol, another author of the study. “We burn so many different kinds of hydrocarbons--like coal, oil, or gasoline--that finding an economical way to make chemical fuels more reusable with the help of sunlight might have a big impact.”

Turning carbon dioxide back into fuel with these methods could be huge for the environment, especially as the rising presence of carbon dioxide continues to affect the ozone layer. However, solar is still the cleanest and cheapest option for green energy.

Go solar today! Making the switch to solar will save you money, as well as the environment, and you don’t need any artificial leaves to do it. Call or contact us at 407.331.9077! We’re excited to go over all of your options.