A team of researchers from Harvard University has devised a technique that uses bacteria to convert solar energy into liquid fuel.
As these experts explain in a study published in the journal PNAS , for this they have developed a kind of bionic sheet that causes light radiation to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen, and microorganisms whose metabolism has been modified to transform a combination of hydrogen and carbon dioxide in isopropanol.
These experts emphasize that their artificial leaf uses catalysts that can be obtained from cheap and easily available materials, which makes this advance particularly suitable for use in areas with difficulties to access energy.
The chemist Daniel Nocera, who has promoted the trial, points out that the catalysts that facilitate the conversion are perfectly compatible with the conditions that the bacteria they have used, of the Ralstonia eutropha species, need to survive.
The scientists argue that the same principles on which their research is based could be used to produce drugs or vitamins in small quantities . In addition, they hope to be able to get their bionic leaf to convert solar energy into biofuel with an efficiency of 5%. At the moment, this is 1%, similar to that achieved by plants through photosynthesis.
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