Melbourne: Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have moved one step closer to turning water and sunlight into sustainable fuel by successfully replicating a crucial step in photosynthesis.
“Water is abundant and so is sunlight. It is an exciting prospect to use them to create hydrogen, and do it cheaply and safely,” said Dr Kastoori Hingorani, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis in the Australian National University Research School of Biology.
Hydrogen offers potential as a zero-carbon replacement for petroleum products, and is already used for launching space craft.
However, until this work, the way that plants produce hydrogen by splitting water has been poorly understood. The team created a protein which, when exposed to light, displays the electrical heartbeat that is the key to photosynthesis.
The system uses a naturally-occurring protein and does not need batteries or expensive metals, meaning it could be affordable in developing countries, Hingorani said.
Co-researcher Professor Ron Pace said the research opened up new possibilities for manufacturing hydrogen as a cheap and clean source of fuel.
“This is the first time we have replicated the primary capture of energy from sunlight,” Pace said.
“It’s the beginning of a whole suite of possibilities, such as creating a highly efficient fuel, or to trapping atmospheric carbon,” said Pace, adding that large amounts of hydrogen fuel produced by artificial photosynthesis could transform the economy.
“That carbon-free cycle is essentially indefinitely sustainable. Sunlight is extraordinarily abundant, water is everywhere the raw materials we need to make the fuel. And at the end of the usage cycle it goes back to water,” he said.
