Floating factories of artificial leaves could make green fuel for jets and ships
Floating factories of artificial leaves could make green fuel for jets and ships
Cambridge University scientists develop a device to ‘defossilise’ the economy using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide
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The Cambridge project is based on a floating artificial leaf which has been developed at the university and which can turn sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into synthetic fuel.
“Solar panels are excellent at generating electricity and are making a great contribution to the world reaching its net zero aspirations,” said Erwin Reisner, the professor of energy and sustainability at Cambridge University.
Reisner and his colleagues envisage exploiting the technology to build carpets of artificial leaves that would float on lakes and river estuaries, and use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into the components of petrol and other fuels.
Improvements were needed and were made by exploiting thin-film metal oxides and materials called perovskites to create devices that were covered with micrometre-thin, water-repellent layers.
About 80% of global trade is transported by cargo vessels that burn fossil fuels and their emissions account for more than 3% of the world’s total industrial output of carbon dioxide.
Floating farms of solar fuel leaves could also supply coastal settlements and islands, and exploit water in industrial ponds and irrigation canals.
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