Artificial Leaf and Related Technologies

1) Artificial leaf technology by a group of the University of Waterloo:

a) Ontario researcher says he discovered new way to convert CO2 to methanol BY LIAM CASEY, November 4, 2019

b) FastCompany article: This artificial leaf turns CO2 into a low-cost fuel, 11.04.19
An artificial leaf would combine CO2, water, and sunlight to create energy. Scientists just got closer to making it work at scale.

c) ScienceDaily article: Scientists create ‘artificial leaf’ that turns carbon into fuel, November 4, 2019, University of Waterloo
Converts harmful carbon dioxide into useful alternative fuel
Scientists have created an ‘artificial leaf’ to fight climate change by inexpensively converting harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) into a useful alternative fuel.

d) Full technical paper: Facet-dependent active sites of a single Cu2O particle photocatalyst for CO2 reduction to methanol, Nature Energy (2019)

2) More artificial leaf initiatives:

a) MIT News article: MIT engineers develop a new way to remove carbon dioxide from air by David Chandler, October 24, 2019
The process could work on the gas at any concentrations, from power plant emissions to open air.

b) ScienceDaily article: ‘Artificial leaf’ successfully produces clean gas, October 21, 2019
A widely-used gas that is currently produced from fossil fuels can instead be made by an ‘artificial leaf’ that uses only sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, and which could eventually be used to develop a sustainable liquid fuel alternative to gasoline.

c) Phys.org article: New catalyst efficiently produces hydrogen from seawater by Jeannie Kever, University of Houston, Nov 11, 2019
Researchers from the University of Houston have reported a significant breakthrough with a new oxygen evolution reaction catalyst that, combined with a hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst, achieved current densities capable of supporting industrial demands while requiring relatively low voltage to start seawater electrolysis.