Abstract

Artificial photosynthesis is a process that utilizes solar energy to convert atmosphericCO₂ into usable fuels. This is a highly desirable process for combating climate change as it not only removes CO₂, a harmful greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, it also reduces the demand for the mining of new fossil fuels.  This is increasingly important as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report detailing the necessity for immediate action against climate change and the potential devastating effects if left untreated. Artificial photosynthesis is unfortunately majorly inefficient, barely reaching efficiencies of 3% of the solar energy harvested compared to 15%-20% efficiencies of current photovoltaic panels. Then additional energy is lost in the actual utilization (usually combustion) of the products of artificial photosynthesis. The core of artificial photosynthesis is CO₂ reduction, a chemical reaction that reduces the oxidation state of carbon in CO₂, producing a chemical that stores energy to be released later. The reduction reaction requires a catalyst present for the reaction to occur. It is known that the most prominent variable in the efficiency of the overall artificial photosynthesis process is the ability of the catalyst to reduce the activation energy of the reduction reaction. The results I got were inconclusive. No methane was sensed through gas chromatography even in the controls. This indicates that a more robust setup is necessary and the next steps are to incorporate a more intense and consistent light source and to ensure a tighter seal.