Man-made photosynthesis to revolutionise food and energy production

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/industrial-biotechnology/2012/120217-pr-man-made-photosynthesis.aspx

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]Man-made photosynthesis to revolutionise food and energy production[/font]

17 February 2012

[font size=4]Improving natural photosynthesis to make new fuels and boost crop production is the focus of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funded research presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting today. It could see us one step closer to bottling the sun's energy or turbocharging plants to produce bumper crops.[/font]

[font size=3]The artificial 'leaf'
'Turbocharging' photosynthesis
Capturing 'wasted' solar energy

Photosynthesis allows biological systems to take energy from the sun and use it to produce food and fuel. It is one of the most important biological processes on earth but it's not as efficient as it could be. Natural trade-offs results in less than 1% efficiency in many important crops and so there is significant scope for improvement.

Scientists from the UK and US are working to engineer or enhance photosynthesis to benefit food and fuel production.

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(Difficult to edit this down to 4 paragraphs…)

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. "photosynthesis uses *carbon dioxide* and water, releasing oxygen as a waste product."

Uh yeah, getting that process under human control and amplified...I could see that having some positive ramifications.

[bananas]

6. This could also be useful on Mars, if we ever get there. nt

[athenasatanjesus]

2. Darn I was hoping it could be applied to humans.

Still good tho.

[JDPriestly]

3. Thanks for the interesting posts. K&R

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. My pleasure

(You're welcome.)

[wtmusic]

5. MIT’s Daniel Nocera Announces Artificial Leaf With Goal To Make Every Home a Power Station

"At an American Chemical Society in Anaheim, California, MIT Professor Dr. Daniel Nocera announced that a research team had achieved a long -sought-after for goal of artificially copying photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn sunlight into energy, to create electricity easily and cheaply.

The 'artificial leaf' is a thin sheet of metal, electronics and catalysts about the size of a credit card. When placed in a gallon of water in direct sunlight Nocera said this device could create enough electricity to power a home in the developing world. Nocera’s team have been able to develop a product that can be made from readily available materials — this device is uses catalysts made from nickel, silicon and cobalt which are capable of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen which can then be used to create electricity.

'A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades,” said Nocera, “We believe we have done it. The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station.'"

http://www.freeenergytimes.com/2011/03/28/mit-chemist-daniel-nocera-announces-artificial-leaf-goal-to-make-every-home-a-power-station/

Not sure why this was excluded fromt he article, he seems to be a front-runner.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. Nocera’s leaf is in its earliest stages

Right now, his labs’ catalysts (used with an external power source) are of more interest to me.
http://nocera.mit.edu/SolarEnergyConversion
http://nocera.mit.edu/Publications2011