Researchers may have just developed artificial photosynthesis

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, say that by combining nanoscale materials with bacteria, they have opened the door to a new way of designing systems that could efficiently turn carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight into useful organic compounds—similar to what plants do through photosynthesis. Down the road, they say, the system could become a commercially viable way to produce high-value chemicals like drug precursors used by the pharmaceutical industry, or to store renewable energy in the form of liquid fuels. The goal of highly efficient artificial photosynthesis is a long-standing one, and there are many approaches to the problem, all of which face scientific hurdles (See “Sun + Water = Fuel” and “A Greener ‘Artificial Leaf’”). One general approach is to rely on microörganisms called electrotrophs, which can be coaxed, through the application of electricity, to make certain chemical building blocks.