A team of chemists, electrical engineers, and molecular biologists is building a device that mimics how a leaf captures sunlight to turn carbon dioxide into fuel—in this case, methanol. Burning fossil fuels releases CO₂ that has been locked underground for millions of years, unbalancing the carbon cycle. Current solar panels generate electricity but do nothing to remove CO₂ from the air. This project aims to combine both tasks in a single step: using sunlight to convert CO₂ directly into a liquid fuel that can be stored, transported, and burned without adding new carbon to the atmosphere. The fundamental challenge is learning how to arrange light-harvesting molecules and catalytic centres on a solid surface, as nature does inside a plant cell, so that the system works efficiently even in dim light. If successful, this research could underpin a carbon-neutral fuel economy. Methanol produced this way would power vehicles or industrial processes without increasing atmospheric CO₂ levels, addressing the twin problems of energy security and global warming identified in the Stern Review. The project is long-term—roughly a decade—and remains at the fundamental science stage, but it brings together disciplines that rarely collaborate, from supramolecular chemistry to bacterial photosynthesis.
View original technical description
Aims and Grand Challenges: The development of scaleable, efficient, and low intensity-tolerant solar energy harvesting systems represents one of the greatest scientific challenges today. In this research proposal we propose to explore a bold and innovative approach that uses solar energy to both generate energy and fix carbon dioxide in one step, to produce a type of solar fuel cell which would yield methanol or similar feedstock (this is the long term ~10 year aim). This is an extremely challenging problem and in this study we will bring to together researchers in Chemistry and Electrical Engineering in Glasgow, with those in existing Bio-energy research (Bacterial Photosynthesis, Plant Molecular Biology) along with the key international groups in this area from the USA, Japan, and Germany, to explore the idea of transferring concepts from natural photosynthesis to solid state devices. In this research we will learn from Photosynthesis how to arrange light harvesting/reaction centre units on a surface in an immobilised environment to assemble highly efficient and broad spectrum light harvesting devices using inorganic/organic chemistry approaches. Therefore by combining research from Chemistry (Model systems, supramolecular chemistry, and photoactive units and metalloenzyme models) with Electrical Engineering (Surface patterning, lithography, and surface structure manipulation) and Molecular Biology (Structural biology, biological electron transfer, and membrane bound proteins) we will develop a major and long term interdisciplinary research program with this grand aim. Ultimately, success in this research could allow the development of a sustainable carbon neutral economy arresting the increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere from fossil fuel burning. This will have a major impact limiting global warming whilst securing our energy needs - a major issue identified by the DTI CAT and Stern Review reports.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know