The process we are developing is sustainable because it uses sunlight-driven water splitting and takes carbon from the atmosphere
- Erwin Reisner
In a matter of decades, homeowners might have their own power plants that use sunshine not only to power their homes but also to synthesise petrol for their cars. This is the vision of chemist Dr Erwin Reisner, who is working towards developing the process that could make this future energy scenario possible, and could also be scaled up to provide industrial levels of fuel production.
“The sun provides our planet with a continuous flow of electromagnetic and carbon-free energy and really is the most obvious and abundant energy source that is capable of sustaining humankind’s long-term energy demand,” he said.
“Given that almost 80% of the world’s energy is used in the form of fuels, one of the main challenges is to create a carbon-neutral, sustainable alternative that is cost-effective enough to replace the usage of petrol and diesel.”
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Image: Electrodes in a test cell to produce hydrogen with light
Credit: Erwin Reisner
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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