We have studied since our childhood that plants around us are alive and they use photo synthesis to generate energy for them generating oxygen in the process. We can also say that plants use sun and water from earth to generate energy from them. This fact actuated researchers to replicate photo-synthesis to generate solar energy at low cost to solve the energy crisis overwhelming the world.
No doubt, the most important component of this replicated photo-synthesis design will be the leaves as in the natural model(plant), its leaf is the one who captures sunlight for the plant. Automatically researchers gave their best efforts to design so called artificial leaves and there have been a number of biotech-oriented efforts to use genetically manipulated microorganisms such as bacteria to make fuels directly from sunlight and water. Here are some of the major efforts that realized the design of artificial leaf.
Joule Unlimited, a start-up company that is designing a bioreactor in the shape of a flat plastic pane that grows cyanobacteria from water, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. The cyanobacteria are genetically engineered to make diesel fuel directly.
Another high-profile researcher in artificial photosynthesis is Daniel Nocera from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He co-founded a company called Sun Catalytix that is using a relatively inexpensive catalyst to split water to make hydrogen and oxygen. The company plans to make a system that can make the hydrogen, store it, and then run it through a fuel cell to make electricity or burn it for heat and power.
As for now, we have prototype to generate hydrogen and oxygen from sunlight when put in water. The prototype which is nothing but an Artificial Leaf.
No doubt, the most important component of this replicated photo-synthesis design will be the leaves as in the natural model(plant), its leaf is the one who captures sunlight for the plant. Automatically researchers gave their best efforts to design so called artificial leaves and there have been a number of biotech-oriented efforts to use genetically manipulated microorganisms such as bacteria to make fuels directly from sunlight and water. Here are some of the major efforts that realized the design of artificial leaf.Joule Unlimited, a start-up company that is designing a bioreactor in the shape of a flat plastic pane that grows cyanobacteria from water, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. The cyanobacteria are genetically engineered to make diesel fuel directly.
Another high-profile researcher in artificial photosynthesis is Daniel Nocera from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He co-founded a company called Sun Catalytix that is using a relatively inexpensive catalyst to split water to make hydrogen and oxygen. The company plans to make a system that can make the hydrogen, store it, and then run it through a fuel cell to make electricity or burn it for heat and power.
As for now, we have prototype to generate hydrogen and oxygen from sunlight when put in water. The prototype which is nothing but an Artificial Leaf.
No comments:
Post a Comment