An energy paper published in the British journal Nature Communications on the 7th said scientists showed a new way to use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into methane. This way of producing fuel from greenhouse gases will provide a sustainable source of energy for humans.

 

The sun's thermal radiation is clean and sustainable, but it is difficult to store it because the battery has limited storage capacity and longevity. So the researchers suggest that using solar energy to produce fuel is a viable solution.

 

This time, a team of scientists from the Korea Institute of Basic Science established a new system that uses solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into methane. The first thing they used was zinc oxide, a mineral commonly found in physical sunscreens. The principle of shielding ultraviolet rays is absorption and scattering. The electrons can accept energy transitions in ultraviolet light, and when the particle size of the material is far. When the wavelength is less than the ultraviolet ray, the ultraviolet ray acting thereon can be scattered in various directions. After using zinc oxide to effectively transfer solar energy, the researchers added copper oxide crystals. When sunlight hits the mixture, the charge begins to flow. In carbonated water (including carbon dioxide), these charges drive a complex chemical reaction that successfully converts carbon dioxide to methane with a purity of 99%.

 

Although such conversions have been achieved before, previous attempts have had many drawbacks, such as the need for rare and expensive materials to produce chemical reactions, or the resulting fuels that are not as easy to use as methane.

 

The authors conclude that storing solar energy in methane gas allows the material to provide more energy per unit mass than a normal battery. In the future, it is still possible to optimize the conversion process, and the current findings also give people a better understanding of the various elements needed to enhance this performance.