Breakthrough: Artificial leaf generates liquid energy carriers

We have already reported several times about Erwin Reisner and his "artificial leaf": His research in the highly successful CD Laboratory for Sustainable SynGas Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, which ran from 2012 to 2019, enabled him to construct a prototype which, in the style of photosynthesis in natural plants, uses sunlight as an energy source to convert carbon dioxide and water into synthesis gas (instead of sugar) and oxygen - enormously promising for sustainable energy production, since said "syngas" (needed, for example, for plastic, fertiliser and medicine production) is otherwise obtained from fossil fuels. But this was only the beginning!

Prof. Reisner, who remained at the University of Cambridge after the successful completion of the CD Laboratory, and his team continued to work on the project - in 2022, for example, we reported on the newly acquired floating capabilities of the artificial leaf, which significantly expanded its potential areas of application. Today's news, however, is even more spectacular: Erwin Reisner's working group has now succeeded in adapting the photosynthesis-like process in such a way that propanol or ethanol can be produced directly instead of syngas! These two liquid energy carriers with high energy density are also known as "e-fuels", as their production has so far required the supply of external electricity. But if they are produced by means of the artificial leaf, sunlight alone covers the required energy supply (as was the case with syngas): Instead of e-fuels, Reisner refers to them as "s(olar)-fuels"!

CDG President Martin Gerzabek on the research results (published yesterday in the renowned journal Nature Energy): "S-Fuels have the potential to represent a turning point in energy supply. I am proud that our funding model was able to lay the foundation for this research and that we helped make these groundbreaking results possible. Congratulations to Erwin Reisner and his team!"