A new artificial leaf that can make gas fuel out of sunlight could one day produce clean petrol for cars, scientists say.
The leaf, invented by chemists at the University of Cambridge, creates syngas - a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide - without producing carbon emissions, unlike existing techniques.
"You may not have heard of syngas itself, but every day you consume products that were created using it," said Prof Erwin Reisner, who has spent seven years working on the photosynthesis-inspired leaf.
"Being able to produce it sustainably would be a critical step in closing the global carbon cycle and establishing a sustainable chemical and fuel industry."
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The leaf is doused in water, where just like the real thing it takes carbon dioxide and water and uses the sun's energy to turn them into oxygen, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The latter two can then be combined into syngas.
And also like a real leaf - but unlike existing solar panels - it doesn't need direct sunlight to work.
"This means you are not limited to using this technology just in warm countries, or only operating the process during the summer months," said PhD student Virgil Andrei, who contributed to the research. "You could use it from dawn until dusk, anywhere in the world."
Syngas isn't as energy dense as natural gas, and the artificial leaf isn't yet very efficient. But the team behind it hope to improve it to the point where they can produce liquid fuel.
"What we'd like to do next, instead of first making syngas and then converting it into liquid fuel, is to make the liquid fuel in one step from carbon dioxide and water," said Dr Reisner.
While much of the focus on sustainable energy has been on electricity, Dr Reisner says only about 25 percent of the world's energy demands can be satisfied this way.
"There is a major demand for liquid fuels to power heavy transport, shipping and aviation sustainably."
The research, published in journal Nature Materials, was funded by Austrian petrochemical company OMV.
"The team's fundamental research to produce syngas as the basis for liquid fuel in a carbon-neutral way is ground-breaking," said Michael-Dieter Ulbrich, OMV senior adviser.
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