Researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif. www.lbl.gov), along with a host of collaborators, have made progress on an artificial photosynthesis system that converts CO2 into ethane and ethylene using nanostructured copper and perovskite. In a recent publication in Nature Catalysis, the researchers described lead-halide perovskite photo-absorbers that imitate the light-absorbing chlorophyll in plant photosynthesis. These were integrated with “nanoflower” copper electrocatalysts that were inspired by enzymes that regulate photosynthesis in nature.
Source: LBL
The work capitalizes on previous research and is part of a larger multi-institutional initiative known as the Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA), which is a Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov). LiSA is led by the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, Calif.; www.caltech.edu), in close partnership with Berkeley Lab, and brings together more than 100 scientists from national laboratories and universities.
Researchers on the LiSA project developed the cathode and anode components of the new photoelectrochemical device. Prior innovations across research groups enabled an organic oxidation reaction to take place in the photoanode chamber and create C2 products in the photocathode chamber. The current project created a realistic artificial-leaf architecture in a device about the size of a postage stamp — it converts CO2 into C2 molecules using only sunlight.
Previous experiments have successfully replicated photosynthesis through the use of biological materials, but this work incorporated copper. While the selectivity of copper is lower than biological alternatives, the inclusion of copper presents a more durable, stable and longer-lasting option for the artificial-leaf system design, according to Peidong Yang, a senior Berkeley Lab scientist who co-authored the study.
Yang’s group is now working to increase the system’s efficiency and expand the size of the artificial leaf to begin increasing the scalability of the technology.