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Scientists at the Berkeley Lab department
of the U.S. Department of Energy, have created
a hybrid system of semiconducting nanowires
and bacteria that mimics the natural photosynthetic
process by which plants use the energy in
sunlight to synthesize carbohydrates from
carbon dioxide and water.
This new artificial photosynthetic system
synthesizes a combination of carbon dioxide
and water into acetate, the most common building
block today for biosynthesis.
Peidong Yang, one of the leaders of this study
says "Our system has the potential to fundamentally
change the chemical and oil industry in that
we can produce chemicals and fuels in a totally
renewable way, rather than extracting them
from deep below the ground."
Carbon dioxide is a major concern for scientists
as they believe that it is the cause of climate
change. The artificial photosynthetic technique
developed by the Berkeley researchers solves
the carbon dioxide problem by putting it to
good use.
In natural photosynthesis, leaves harvest
solar energy and carbon dioxide is combined
with water for the synthesis of molecular
products that form biomass.
In this system, nanowires harvest solar energy
and deliver electrons to bacteria, in this
case S. Ovata. The S. Ovata accept the electrons
and act as a catalyst and reduce the carbon
dioxide into a form that a second batch of
bacteria, in this case E. Coli, that can synthesis
the product even further into a targeted chemical,
such as butanol fuel, or plastic compounds.
Right now they have achieved a solar to chemical
conversion ratio of 3%.
The process is thought to be commercially
viable when it reaches 10%.
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