Yale researchers produce methanol from artificial “leaf”
In Connecticut, Yale-led research team has developed the first standalone device that produces the liquid fuel methanol using only sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide as the ingredients. The artificial “leaf,” like its namesake in nature, is a chemistry marvel. It brings the scientific mimicry of photosynthesis — the process of converting sunlight and water into chemical energy — to a new level, converting sunlight to methanol 32 times more efficiently than the previous conversion record for artificial leaf technologies that generate alcohol products.
The new “leaf” offers several commercial and environmental benefits. It pulls carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas and main contributor to climate change, from the air; it creates methanol, an increasingly popular chemical feedstock and alternative liquid fuel; and it suggests a viable new method for converting and storing solar energy.
The study is also a research milestone for the Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels (CHASE), a federally funded solar energy research hub comprised of seven U.S. research institutions and based at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill). In addition to Yale, the new study includes researchers from North Carolina State University-Raleigh, UNC-Chapel Hill, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Category: Research
