Scientists from India have developed a system to capture excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which they term as Artificial Photosynthesis, and convert into solar fuel. The team of Scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research said they could harness solar energy through Artificial Photosynthesis and convert the captured carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide.
They designed and fabricated an integrated catalytic system based on a metal-organic framework (MOF-808) comprising of a photosensitizer (molecules which absorb light and transfer the electron from the incident light into another nearby molecule) that can harness solar power and a catalytic centre that can eventually reduce Co,. The work described above has been accepted for publication in the journal ‘Energy & Environmental Science of Royal Society of Chemistry, UK
The scientists immobilized a photosensitizer, which is a chemical called ruthenium bipyridyl complex and a catalytic part, which is another chemical called rhenium carbonyl complex, inside the nonospace of metal-organic framework for artificial photosynthesis. Both these molecular entities stay in close proximity in the confined nano-space of a porous metal-organic framework system resulting in excellent co, uptake capability at room temperature. This synthetic strategy empowers efficient solar light-driven photocatalysis. The developed catalyst exhibited excellent visible-light-driven reduction to CO with more than 99 per cent selectivity.
The catalyst also oxidizes water to produce oxygen (O2). The photocatalytic assembly, when assessed for co, reduction under direct sunlight in a water medium without any additives, showed superior performance of CO production. Being heterogeneous, the integrated catalytic assembly can be reused for several catalytic cycles without losing its activity JNCASR team believes this intricate design and synthetic approach will pave the way to develop new integrated catalytic systems for Co, capture and conversion of different energy-rich C1 and C2 chemical feedstocks by mimicking artificial photosynthesis.
