What an artificial leaf may do for energy storage

Solar panels have become a popular and efficient way to make electricity, but they are not as good when it comes to storing it. Now, physicist Jeffrey Neaton of the University of California, Berkeley has found a better way to preserve energy. Neaton: “What we are doing here is thinking about harnessing that energy and not turning it into electricity, but into fuel, much like gasoline. Fuel is a very compact, energy-dense way of storing of energy” Neaton and his colleagues consider photosynthesis as a model to generate fuel and are working on building an artificial leaf that could become a new alternative energy source. “This artificial leaf is a set of inorganic materials that one combined does what a leaf does, which is take sunlight and carbon dioxide and generate a fuel, chemical fuel, and oxygen.” Neaton says it’s still a long way before the artificial leaf become a technology like solar panels, but step-by-step, the idea is turning into reality.