Plants use photosynthesis to produce energy from the sun. Now, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have applied this principle as a basis for creating a new sustainable (Intelligent fire traps) process that can produce syngas for large chemical companies.
Syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is an important intermediate product in the production of many feed chemicals such as ammonia, methanol and synthetic hydrocarbons. “Syngas is currently produced almost exclusively from fossil resources”, explains the professor. Roland Fischer from the Chair of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry.
A yellow powder, led by Fischer’s research group, changes everything. Scientists are inspired by photosynthesis, the process by which plants produce chemical energy from light. “Nature needs carbon dioxide and water for photosynthesis,” says Fischer. The nanomaterial developed by the researchers mimics the properties of enzymes involved in photosynthesis. “nanozyme” produces syngas using carbon dioxide, water, and light in a similar way.
Maintain performance standards
Dr. Philip Stanley, who covered the subject as part of his doctoral thesis, explains: “One molecule takes over the function of an energy antenna, similar to the chlorophyll molecule in plants. , the trigger.” A new part of the detector system: There are now two reaction points connected to the antenna. One of these places converts carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, while the other turns water into hydrogen.
The main design challenge is to arrange the antenna, the electron path system and the two exciters, in such a way as to achieve the best lighting results and one success. “At 36%, our energy efficiency is very high,” Stanley says. “We managed to convert up to one-third of the photons into chemical energy. Previous techniques usually received one in ten photons at best. This result gives hope that the realization of the technology can make the industrial chemical process sustainable.
Photo collection to save money
In another project, researchers are working on something else that uses solar energy, but in this case it is stored as electricity. “A possible future application could be a battery that is charged by sunlight, without conversion from a wall outlet,” says Fischer.
The researchers used nanozyme-like materials when creating these photoaccumulators. Here too, the material itself absorbs the incident light photons. But instead of serving as a catalyst for chemical reactions, the energy receiver is so tightly integrated into the structure that it remains in this state, allowing the storage of electrons in ‘do a long time.
The researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of the method in the laboratory. “There are two ways to use solar energy directly”, summarizes Dr Julien Warnan, head of the photocatalysis group. “But we’re not collecting electrical energy from it, or we’re using that energy to cause a chemical reaction. In these two methods, both are based on the same principle, showing that we have been successful in the experiment.
Source: Technical University of Munich (TUM)
