The group’s device produces ethylene and ethane, proving that synthetic leaves can create hydrocarbons. Development can provide cheap, cleaner ways to make fuel, chemicals and plastic.
Research at Cambridge University For Lead Virgil Andre, the ultimate goal is to use this technique to make fuel that will not leave harmful carbon footprint after being burned. If the process uses carbon dioxide captured from air or power plants, the resulting fuel can be carbon neutral – and facilitates the need to continue digging fossil fuels.
“Finally we want to create a carbon dioxide source to produce fuel and chemicals needed for industry and everyday life,” Andre says, who tolerated a study published Nature In February. “You mimic your own carbon cycle of nature, so you do not need additional fossil resources.”
Copper nanofloors
Like other synthetic leaves, the team device uses energy from the sun to make chemical products. But the production of hydrocarbons is more complicated than making hydrogen because the process requires more energy.
To fulfill this feat, researchers introduced some innovations. First, the University of California, Berkeley was to use a special catalyst made of copper structures like a small flower produced in the lab of co -euture pidong yang. On one side of the device, the electrons gathered on the surface of these nanoflors. This electron was then used to convert carbon dioxide and water into a series of molecules, including ethylene and ethane, hydrocarbons, each with two carbon atoms.
Andre, V., Roh, I., Lin, J.A. Et al. / Nat Kettle (2025)
These nanoflover structures are tunable and can be arranged to produce wide range of molecules, Andre says: “Based on the nanostracter of copper catalyst, you can get different products wildly.”
On the other side of the device, the team also develops more energy-functional ways to the source electrons using light-absorbing silicon nanovars to process glycerol instead of water, which is commonly used. An additional advantage is that glycerol -based processes can produce useful compounds such as glycerate, lactate and acetate, which can be harvested for use in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.
Scaling
Although the trial system is working, advanced is a step towards making a professional source of fuel. “This research shows that this concept can work,” says Yanvi Lam, a chemical and biomolecular engineering assistant at the National University of Singapore. But, he adds, “The display is still not enough for practical applications. It’s not yet there. “
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