Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley have created a hybrid system of bacteria and semiconducting nanowires that mimics photosynthesis. According to the researchers, their versatile, high-yield system can take water, sunlight and carbon dioxide and turn them into the building blocks of biodegradable plastics, pharmaceutical drugs and even biofuel.
“Our system has the potential to fundamentally change the chemical and oil industry in that we can produce chemicals and fuels in a totally renewable way, rather than extracting them from deep below the ground,” says Peidong Yang, who led the study.
As a proof of principle, the scientists showed that their system can reduce CO2 to chemicals including fuels, polymers and pharmaceutical precursors. The yields were up to 26% for butanol, 25% for amorphadiene and 52% for PHB, a renewable and biodegradable plastic.
The team is currently working on a second generation system which has a solar-to-chemical conversion efficiency of 3%.
Click here for source (Gizmag)
Photo: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
