Modular Solar Cell Inspired by Photosynthesis

Innovation: Academia

University of Illinois Chicago

2019

Image: Peiwen Yu / Unsplash / CC BY SA - Creative Commons Attribution + ShareAlike

Store Chemical Entities

Chemical entities include elements such as carbon and metals, and compounds such as nutrients and proteins. Living systems must often store chemical entities–for example, for food or protection–temporarily or for long periods; the latter is synonymous with sequestration. Because chemical entities can react with other chemicals, living systems must store these entities so that they are stable and out of the way (for long-term storage) or readily available when needed (for temporary storage). An example of temporary storage is found in crustaceans such as crabs, which must shed their external skeletons as they grow. But first, a crab must absorb as much calcium carbonate from its shell as possible, storing the compound in its blood until the crab can use it to grow a new exoskeleton.

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Chemically Break Down Inorganic Compounds

The vast majority of biochemical assembly and breakdown processes–even by the most complex organisms–occur within cells. In fact, cells are able to perform hundreds, even thousands of chemical transformations at the same time under life-friendly conditions (ambient temperature and pressure in an aqueous environment). For example, inorganic pyrophosphate is hydrolyzed to form two phosphate groups in the cellular degradation pathway of fatty acids.

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Solar cell from University of Illinois Chicago uses sunlight to recycle carbon dioxide into a renewable fuel source.

Benefits

Scalable
Efficient
Reduced costs

Applications

Commercial and industrial energy generation

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 7: Affordable & Clean Energy
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities
Goal 13: Climate Action

The Challenge

Human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are at the highest levels ever recorded. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, also called the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is emitted from burning fossil fuels.

Innovation Details

The solar cells use an integrated system that combines carbon capture with artificial . The system converts carbon dioxide and water collected from the atmosphere into a usable hydrocarbon gas using sunlight. The inner unit absorbs sunlight, adding heat that enables s inside the unit to convert carbon dioxide and water into a mixture of hydrocarbons. The resulting synthetic gas, called syngas, can be utilized as fuel.

Biomimicry Story

Photosynthesis is essential for life on Earth. It is the process by which plants produce energy and oxygen using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.

See Related Strategy

Biological Strategy

Photosynthesis Converts Solar Energy Into Chemical Energy

Plants

By absorbing the sun’s blue and red light, chlorophyll loses electrons, which become mobile forms of chemical energy that power plant growth.

References

Journal article

Assessment of Artificial Photosynthetic Systems for Integrated Carbon Capture and Conversion

ACS Publications

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