Solar Fuels: Driving on Sunshine

There's more than one way to drive on sunshine!

Electric vehicles charged with solar power are one option for people to drive on sunshine.  Now, there could be another way to harness the power of the sun for our transportation needs.  Solar powered cars may not even need special equipment… just special fuel.

Researchers are looking into the potential of reversing fossil fuel combustion with the use of sunlight to re-energize molecules from air.  Using solar chemical reactors “solar fuels” could one day be created from a variety of materials.  Already, the technology has been able to produce hundreds of gallons of clean, energy fuel per hour.  As explained on the Nature Chemistry website:

We need to replace fossil fuels with solar fuels such as hydrogen from water, or methanol from water and carbon dioxide. Solar fuels could be used round the clock, as the chemical energy stored during the day can be converted to mechanical or electrical power both day and night.

How a solar fuel cell works

Researchers still have a long way to go before we will see operational solar fuel plants.  Among other things, cost and durability of catalyst materials are considerations necessary to construct an assembly of nanorod catalysts to split water.  Anodes and cathods of dissimilar materials are embedded in a membrane to harvest UV light.

The blue portion of sunlight is absorbed by the metal oxide anode (red), where it oxidizes water to release protons. The red portion passes through to be absorbed by the silicon nanorod cathode (blue), which combines these protons with electrons to make hydrogen for fuel. The membrane (light blue) must be permeable to the generated protons and conduct electrons between the two electrodes. The spheres in the region of the anode represent oxygen molecules; spheres in the region of the cathode represent hydrogen molecules. The hydrogen to oxygen ratio is 2:1.

Many believe that solar fuel plants could be operational within the next 30-40 years.  Not only can clean, renewable power be created, but the byproducts of the process could be used to provide clean water, too.  Before this can happen, the cost of the process must be dramatically reduced (it would also help to tax carbon emissions to equalize the competition between solar fuels and gasoline).

Fueling a cleaner future with help from the sun?  I think we will soon see the dawning of a new day in the fuel industry!

Tags: driving on sunshine, solar chemical reactors, solar fuel cell, solar fuels, solar hydrogen fuel, solar powered cars