According to recent reports, scientists are working together progressively to develop an “artificial leaf” that imitates the working of a real leaf, i.e. the chemical magic done through photosynthesis.
However, instead of food for the plant, the new leaf converts sunlight and water into a liquid fuel such as methanol for cars and trucks.
The report came from top authorities on solar energy, who met at the 1st Annual Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium. The authorities stressed on initiating international cooperation and novel thinking on the global energy challenge.
Organized through a joint effort of the science and technology funding agencies and chemical societies of each respective country, the three-day symposium took place in Germany this summer. Around 30 chemists from China, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States attended the conference.
The report states that as the sun provides more energy to the Earth in an hour than the world consumes in a year, a single hour of power given by sunlight is equivalent to the power generated thorough fossil fuels after they have been accumulated for one million years.
Moreover, fossil fuels are limited, and we must discourage our dependence on them. Solar power offers the most promising alternative option.
Four main topics were discussed in the conference:
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Imitating the process of photosynthesis using synthetic materials such as the “artificial leaf”
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Production and usage of biofuels, as a form of stored solar energy
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Developing new, more efficient solar cells
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Storage and distribution of solar energy
The process of artificial photosynthesis comprises of conversion of water and carbon dioxide into sugars as well as oxygen and hydrogen.
Although the scientists have successfully mimicked this fuel-making process, termed artificial photosynthesis, but they still haven’t figured how to do it on a commercial basis.
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