{"id":30734,"date":"2026-04-25T11:19:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T16:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=30734"},"modified":"2026-04-25T11:19:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T16:19:24","slug":"an-artificial-leaf-described-in-a-study-published-on-november-19-2025-was-able-to-convert-co2-into-formate-for-more-than-24-hours-and-could-open-up-an-amazing-new-way-to-produce-chem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/an-artificial-leaf-described-in-a-study-published-on-november-19-2025-was-able-to-convert-co2-into-formate-for-more-than-24-hours-and-could-open-up-an-amazing-new-way-to-produce-chem\/30734\/","title":{"rendered":"An \u201cartificial leaf\u201d described in a study published on November 19, 2025, was able to convert CO2 into formate for more than 24 hours and could open up an amazing new way to produce chemicals without relying so heavily on oil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A solar-powered device that acts like a lab-made leaf can turn carbon dioxide into formate, a simple chemical that stores energy and can feed other reactions. The work suggests a path to making some fuels and industrial ingredients using sunlight, water, and captured CO2<\/a> instead of fossil resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In experiments described in a November 19, 2025 study<\/a>, the device ran for more than 24 hours and produced enough formate to drive a follow-on chemistry step used in pharmaceutical manufacturing. The research was led by Professor Erwin Reisner<\/a> at the University of Cambridge<\/a>, who argued, “If we\u2019re going to build a circular, sustainable economy, the chemical industry is a big, complex problem that we must address.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why this matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The chemical industry is behind countless everyday products, from detergents under the sink to plastics in phones and cars. It is also a major climate problem, and the Royal Society<\/a> estimates it is responsible for about 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A big reason is that many chemicals start with carbon pulled from oil and natural gas, not from the air. Even if factories run on clean electricity, the basic “building blocks” still often come from fossil feedstocks, and that keeps the carbon cycle open-ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning CO2 into useful molecules is one way to close that loop. In practical terms, it is about storing sunshine in chemical form, so energy can be used later when the sun is down and the electric bill is still climbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A leaf that runs on sunlight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Plants do something similar every day through photosynthesis, using light to turn CO2 and water into sugars. An “artificial leaf<\/a>” aims to copy the energy part of that trick, producing fuels or chemical ingredients instead of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this design, an organic semiconductor captures sunlight and pushes electrical charges through the device. Semiconductors are materials that can move electrons when light hits them, and organic versions are based on carbon-rich compounds that can be tuned like ingredients in a recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other half of the system is biological. The team used enzymes from bacteria as catalysts, meaning they speed up the chemical reactions without being used up, and Dr Celine Yeung said, “If we can remove the toxic components and start using organic elements, we end up with a clean chemical reaction.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “sparkling water” fix<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One stubborn problem in solar-fuel devices is that enzymes can be picky. Many lab setups rely on extra chemicals that stabilize acidity and keep reactions moving, but those additives can break down or cause side reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new approach tackled that by building the enzymes into a porous titanium dioxide structure and adding a helper enzyme called carbonic anhydrase. That helper helps manage CO2 in solution, allowing the device to work in a simple bicarbonate mixture that the researchers compared to sparkling water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That detail matters because it moves the system closer to real-world conditions. Tests showed the device could steer electrons toward fuel-making reactions with very high efficiency, and it stayed running for over 24 hours, more than twice as long as earlier versions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CO2 to formate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Formate is the charged form of formic acid, and you can think of it as a small package of carbon and energy. It can serve as a fuel in some systems, but it is also valuable as a starting ingredient for making other chemicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the study, the researchers did not stop at producing formate in a beaker. They fed the formate directly into a follow-up step that makes a high-value chemical used as a building block for pharmaceuticals, polymers, and fragrances, showing a “domino” pathway from CO2 to a useful product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the numbers show this is early-stage technology. In a tandem setup described in the paper, the overall sunlight-to-fuel conversion was about 0.6%, and about 87% of the device\u2019s electrical charge ended up making formate, which is promising but far from industrial scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related work on bigger molecules<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Other researchers are trying to push artificial photosynthesis past small molecules and into hydrocarbons like ethylene and ethane, which are central to plastics and many fuels<\/a>. A February 2025 Nature Catalysis study<\/a> showed a solar-powered device that pairs a perovskite light absorber<\/a>, a crystal material used in cutting-edge solar cells, with a copper catalyst shaped like tiny flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A news release from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory<\/a> described how the copper “nanoflowers” help assemble larger carbon molecules, and Peidong Yang from the University of California, Berkeley said, “Nature was our inspiration.” A separate February 2025 press release said the same platform improved performance by using glycerol, a common organic compound often treated as waste, instead of water in part of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That platform is not ready for the factory floor either. In that collaboration, CO2-to-hydrocarbon selectivity remained around 10%, and MIT Technology Review highlighted the results while stressing that durability and efficiency still need major gains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What comes next<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For solar-to-fuel ideas to matter outside the lab, they need to run for weeks and months, not just a day. They also need to handle real CO2 sources, like air-capture systems or exhaust streams from industry, without poisoning the catalysts or degrading the light-harvesting layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also the everyday challenge of sunlight itself. Clouds roll in, seasons change, and energy demand does not wait, so future devices may need to pair chemical production with storage and smart operation, much like how solar panels today pair with batteries<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could “chemical panels” one day sit alongside rooftop solar and help supply the raw ingredients for modern life? Researchers are not there yet, but the new results show a clearer roadmap for turning waste carbon into something useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main study has been published in Joule<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A solar-powered device that acts like a lab-made leaf can turn carbon dioxide into formate, a simple chemical that stores … <\/p>\n

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