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Artificial leaf will convert sunlight into fuel
February 20, 2012: The technology is a "turbo-powered" version of photosynthesis, the
natural process by which plants creates energy from sunlight, but uses
electricity to spark the reaction. Rather than producing carbohydrates, the end product is fuel which could
be used in petrol engines to power cars and even aeroplanes, researchers
said. The Glasgow University scientists running the project expect to have
fine-tuned the method within two years, and to have built a working
model within five. If used on a mass scale, the technology could supply a large quantity of
the world's fuel needs and be used instead of oil when stock starts to run out, they said.
Like photosynthesis, the process involves the absorption of carbon
dioxide, so burning the fuel would not cause an increase in levels of
the gas in the atmosphere. Prof Richard Cogdell, who leads the research, said: "The big issue at
the moment is that most renewable energy can only make electricity.
"We have not got ways to store electricity, and the supply is intermittent."
In contrast fuels like hydrogen and ethanol produced through the new
process could provide "energy on demand", he added. Despite following a similar process to photosynthesis, the "artificial
leaves" would look nothing like a plant, Prof Cogdell said.
The designs consist of a large vat of water and genetically engineered
bacteria which absorb sunlight but also use electricity from solar panels.
This will make the technology more efficient than plants, which
typically only generate half a per cent more energy than they use up
during photosynthesis, Prof Cogdell said. The bacteria will convert the energy into hydrocarbon fuels, in a
similar biological process to the method used by plants to make carbohydrates.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Prof Cogdell said: "This is
one of the grand challenges that mankind faces if we are going to sustain our way of life after oil runs out.
"We have to be able to make renewable, sustainable dense portable fuels
for transport, especially for aeroplanes and ships, and electricity is
just not going to cut it." Source: www.telegraph.co.uk |
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World’s first magnetic soap produced
In a pioneering research, scientists claim to have produced the world’s
first magnetic soap that is composed of iron-rich salts dissolved in water.
A team at Bristol University says that its soap, which responds to a
magnetic field when placed in solution, would calm all concerns over the
use of surfactants in oil-spill clean-ups and revolutionise industrial cleaning products.
For long, researchers have been searching for a way to control soaps (or
surfactants as they are known in industry) once they are in solution to
increase the ability to dissolve oils in water and then remove them from
a system.
The Bristol University team produced the magnetic soap by dissolving
iron in a range of inert surfactant materials composed of chloride and
bromide ions, very similar to those found in everyday mouthwash or
fabric conditioner. The addition of the iron creates metallic centres within the soap
particles, say the scientists led by Julian Eastoe.
To test its properties, the team introduced a magnet to a test tube
containing their new soap lying beneath a less dense organic solution,
the ‘Angewandte Chemie’ journal reported. When the magnet was introduced the iron-rich soap overcame both gravity
and surface tension between the water and oil, to levitate through the
organic solvent and reach the source of magnetic energy, proving its
magnetic properties. Once the surfactant was developed and shown to be magnetic, the
scientists took it to Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), the world’s flagship
centre for neutron science, to investigate the science behind its remarkable property.
When surfactants are added to water they are known to form tiny clumps
(particles called micelles).
At ILL, the scientists used a technique called “small angle neutron
scattering (SANS)” to confirm that it was this clumping of the iron-rich
surfactant that brought about its magnetic properties. The potential applications of magnetic surfactants are huge, say the
scientists.
Prof Eastoe said: “As most magnets are metals, from a purely scientific
point of view these ionic liquid surfactants are highly unusual, making
them a particularly interesting discovery. “From a commercial point of view, though these exact liquids aren’t yet
ready to appear in any household product, by proving that magnetic soaps
can be developed, future work can reproduce the same phenomenon in more
commercially viable liquids for a range of applications from water
treatment to industrial cleaning products.” Source: PTI
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