Breakthrough solar cell captures CO2 and sunlight, produces burnable fuel 🔥

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://news.uic.edu/breakthrough-solar-cell-captures-co2-and-sunlight-produces-burnable-fuel

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Breakthrough solar cell captures CO2 and sunlight, produces burnable fuel[/font]

Bill Burton
July 28, 2016

[font size=3]Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have engineered a potentially game-changing solar cell that cheaply and efficiently converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into usable hydrocarbon fuel, using only sunlight for energy.

The finding is reported in the July 29 issue of Science and was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. A provisional patent application has been filed.

Unlike conventional solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity that must be stored in heavy batteries, the new device essentially does the work of plants, converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into fuel, solving two crucial problems at once. A solar farm of such “artificial leaves” could remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and produce energy-dense fuel efficiently.

“The new solar cell is not photovoltaic — it’s photosynthetic,” says Amin Salehi-Khojin, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at UIC and senior author on the study.

…[/font][/font]

http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf4767

[Nihil]

1. Yay for more hydrocarbon fuel to burn!

> A solar farm of such “artificial leaves” could remove significant amounts
> of carbon from the atmosphere and produce energy-dense fuel efficiently

... thus not actually removing any carbon from the atmosphere, merely
capturing some, storing it then releasing it again ... all the while continuing
to promote Business As Usual for fossil fuel consumption & extraction.

Yay for humans driven by capitalism ... "game-changing" my fucking arse ...

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Uh… we are talking carbon neutral here…

While it is not sequestering any carbon, it is not putting any additional carbon into the atmosphere either. That’s a good thing™ in my book.

[Nihil]

10. Uh ... we are talking pathetic fig-leaf for continued massive use of fossil fuels here ...

That carbon neutral cycle is promoting the consumption - the extraction, transport & combustion - of fossil fuels.

The "carbon neutral" fuel will be such a tiny tiny (almost immeasurably small) fraction of the total carbon fuel budget
that it will be meaningless but - by existing - it delays the forced move away from fossil fuels and actively provides
a quantity of greenwash that thoroughly outweighs the (non-academic) benefit.

I admit it is academically interesting and, in that respect, I am glad you posted it.

It is the parallel promotion of the fossil fuel industry via continued used of fossil fuel consuming vehicles that is the problem.
That is not a good thing™ in my book - it is another stage in the ongoing disaster.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. I look at it this way…

Using this technology you could, for instance, power a “real” airplane with solar power.

[GeorgeGist]

3. Can't we move on ...

from the Age of Fire.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Fuels are really handy ways to store energy.

Compare gasoline at 46.4 MJ/kg & 34.2 MJ/L to a Lithium-ion battery at <1 MJ/kg & <3 MJ/L

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

[bananas]

4. It could be used on Mars, too

The technology should be adaptable not only to large-scale use, like solar farms, but also to small-scale applications, Salehi-Khojin said. In the future, he said, it may prove useful on Mars, whose atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, if the planet is also found to have water.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. This appears to be the same press release as the first link in the OP

https://news.uic.edu/breakthrough-solar-cell-captures-co2-and-sunlight-produces-burnable-fuel

[femmedem]

8. Oops! Thanks! I had clicked on the link at the bottom of the OP. n'/t

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. Quite alright

Thanks for trying to help!

[Squinch]

12. Kick and rec.