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Photosynthesis for energy production

04.09.2018

Biologists have found a new way to use solar energy for good purposes. By changing the mechanism of photosynthesis in plants, they learned how to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, releasing energy in the process.

Photosynthesis is the process of "converting" sunlight into energy that plants use. Oxygen is its by-product, formed as a result of the decomposition of water absorbed by the plant. Perhaps photosynthesis is the most important reaction for all life on Earth, as it produces almost all the oxygen in the planet's atmosphere. Hydrogen, which is also formed during the splitting of water during photosynthesis, has the potential to be an environmentally friendly and inexhaustible source of energy.

A team of researchers led by academics from St John's College at the University of Cambridge used sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen during a process of artificial photosynthesis, which the scientists tweaked with biological components and new technologies. With this method, plants absorb more sunlight than usual.

"Natural photosynthesis is inefficient, as it was developed solely for the survival of plants, so it provides the minimum required energy - only 1-2% of what it can potentially give out," commented Katarzyna Sokol, one of the authors of the work.

Artificial photosynthesis has been around for decades, but it has never been successfully used to create renewable energy because it relies on expensive and toxic catalysts. For the same reason, no one has tried to use it at the industrial level.

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