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Triggering artificial photosynthesis to clean air: Process produces energy
at the same time -- ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170425102529.htm#.WQCLEP0Pk8Q.facebook

Triggering artificial photosynthesis to clean air Process produces energy
at the same time Date:April 25, 2017Source:University of Central Florida
Summary:A chemistry professor has just found a way to trigger the process
of photosynthesis in a synthetic material, turning greenhouse gases into
clean air and producing energy all at the same time. The process has great
potential for creating a technology that could significantly reduce
greenhouse gases linked to climate change, while also creating a clean way
to produce energy.

FULL STORY
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Professor Fernando Uribe-Romo and his team of students created a way to
trigger a chemical reaction in a synthetic material called metal-organic
frameworks (MOF) that breaks down carbon dioxide into harmless organic
materials. Think of it as an artificial photosynthesis process similar to
the way plants convert carbon dioxide and sunlight into food. But instead
of producing food, Uribe-Romo's method produces solar fuel.
*Credit: Bernard Wilchusky*

A chemistry professor in Florida has just found a way to trigger the
process of photosynthesis in a synthetic material, turning greenhouse gases
into clean air and producing energy all at the same time.

The process has great potential for creating a technology that could
significantly reduce greenhouse gases linked to climate change, while also
creating a clean way to produce energy.

"This work is a breakthrough," said UCF Assistant Professor Fernando
Uribe-Romo. "Tailoring materials that will absorb a specific color of light
is very difficult from the scientific point of view, but from the societal
point of view we are contributing to the development of a technology that
can help reduce greenhouse gases."

The findings of his research are published in the *Journal of Materials
Chemistry A*.

Uribe-Romo and his team of students created a way to trigger a chemical
reaction in a synthetic material called metal-organic frameworks (MOF) that
breaks down carbon dioxide into harmless organic materials. Think of it as
an artificial photosynthesis process similar to the way plants convert
carbon dioxide (CO2) and sunlight into food. But instead of producing food,
Uribe-Romo's method produces solar fuel.

It's something scientists around the world have been pursuing for years,
but the challenge is finding a way for visible light to trigger the
chemical transformation. Ultraviolet rays have enough energy to allow the
reaction in common materials such as titanium dioxide, but UVs make up only
about 4 percent of the light Earth receives from the sun. The visible range
-- the violet to red wavelengths -- represent the majority of the sun's
rays, but there are few materials that pick up these light colors to create
the chemical reaction that transforms CO2 into fuel.

Researchers have tried it with a variety of materials, but the ones that
can absorb visible light tend to be rare and expensive materials such as
platinum, rhenium and iridium that make the process cost-prohibitive.

Uribe-Romo used titanium, a common nontoxic metal, and added organic
molecules that act as light-harvesting antennae to see if that
configuration would work. The light harvesting antenna molecules, called
N-alkyl-2-aminoterephthalates, can be designed to absorb specific colors of
light when incorporated in the MOF. In this case he synchronized it for the
color blue.

His team assembled a blue LED photoreactor to test out the hypothesis.
Measured amounts of carbon dioxide were slowly fed into the photoreactor --
a glowing blue cylinder that looks like a tanning bed -- to see if the
reaction would occur. The glowing blue light came from strips of LED lights
inside the chamber of the cylinder and mimic the sun's blue wavelength.

It worked and the chemical reaction transformed the CO2 into two reduced
forms of carbon, formate and formamides (two kinds of solar fuel) and in
the process cleaning the air.

"The goal is to continue to fine-tune the approach so we can create greater
amounts of reduced carbon so it is more efficient," Uribe-Romo said.

He wants to see if the other wavelengths of visible light may also trigger
the reaction with adjustments to the synthetic material. If it works, the
process could be a significant way to help reduce greenhouse gases.

"The idea would be to set up stations that capture large amounts of CO2,
like next to a power plant. The gas would be sucked into the station, go
through the process and recycle the greenhouse gases while producing energy
that would be put back into the power plant."

Perhaps someday homeowners could purchase rooftop shingles made of the
material, which would clean the air in their neighborhood while producing
energy that could be used to power their homes.

"That would take new technology and infrastructure to happen," Uribe-Romo
said. "But it may be possible."

To see an explanation see this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdTuwe2SruA&feature=youtu.be
------------------------------

*Story Source:*

Materials
<https://today.ucf.edu/ucf-invents-way-trigger-artificial-photosynthesis-clear-air-produce-energy-time/>
provided by *University of Central Florida* <http://www.ucf.edu>. *Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.*
------------------------------

*Journal Reference*:

   1. Matthew Wade Logan, Suliman Ayad, Jeremy D. Adamson, Tristan Dilbeck,
   Kenneth Hanson, Fernando J. Uribe-Romo. *Systematic Variation of the
   Optical Bandgap in Titanium Based Isoreticular Metal-Organic Frameworks for
   Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 under Blue Light*. *J. Mater. Chem. A*,
   2017; DOI: 10.1039/C7TA00437K <http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7TA00437K>