Plants convert energy from the sun into chemical energy through photosynthesis. Chemist Peidong Yang, of U-California, spent about 10 years accomplishing “a similar feat with the help of semiconductor nanowires and bacteria,” says the Los Angeles Times. “That’s one of the reasons he was awarded a ‘genius’ fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation.”
“Yang and his collaborators have created a synthetic leaf that uses the same ingredients as photosynthesis – water, sunlight and carbon dioxide – to produce liquid fuels like methane, butane and acetate. And just like nature’s version of photosynthesis, it releases oxygen into the air,” said the Times. It will be years before the technology will be viable commercially, but the research is a step toward a carbon-neutral and sustainable fuel system. Yang said, “We just need to keep pushing this research further.”