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Fuel from photosynthesis

29.12.2020

Professor of Energy in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Daniel Nocera and his colleagues at Harvard University have created two devices - an artificial leaf and a bionic leaf - that use solar energy to produce liquid fuel.

The artificial sheet is a silicon-based solar cell with various catalytic materials attached to both sides. When immersed in water, the device uses the energy of sunlight to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The bionic leaf, thanks to the bacterium Ralstonia eutropha, absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and combines it with hydrogen, which produces artificial leaves. Liquid fuel is produced by artificial photosynthesis.

The scientist noted that in 2020, researchers replaced the bacterium with Xanthobacter autotrophicus. This allowed the development of a device that combines nitrogen from the air and hydrogen from an artificial leaf to make fertilizer.

He added that artificial photosynthesis is 10 times more efficient than natural. In 2021, the team plans to explore practical ways to expand the technology. In the short term, this will help develop a decentralized energy, food and production structure that is carbon neutral. For example, hydrogen is already being used to fuel some vehicles.

Thanks to the energy of the Sun, it will be possible to produce plastics, pharmaceuticals and other substances. Nocera noted that the technology will come in handy when people fly to Mars. Water from the astronauts' urine can be combined with the carbon dioxide they exhale to produce synthetic drugs, vitamins, food, and medicines.

The world is looking for ways to sustain life without fossil fuels, and artificial photosynthesis technology brings society one step closer to this goal, scientists are convinced.

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Hydrogen trains 20.11.2020

German railway company Deutsche Bahn and Siemens Mobility intend to launch a Mireo Plus H train powered by hydrogen.

The vehicle will receive a hydrogen drive, which in terms of power will not be inferior to the electric analogue. The train will be able to move at a speed of 160 km/h and cover up to 600 km.

Deutsche Bahn is busy developing a station to fill a train in 15 minutes. Hydrogen is planned to be produced in Tübingen and a maintenance facility will be built in Ulm.

The companies plan to start testing as early as 2024, and they will last for a year in Baden-Württemberg. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure is ready to finance this project.

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