{"id":104455,"date":"2025-08-29T14:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T14:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/104455\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T14:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T14:44:12","slug":"a-new-approach-to-turning-sunlight-into-fuel-looks-promising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/104455\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Approach to Turning Sunlight Into Fuel Looks Promising"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Plants transform sunlight into fuel, creating oxygen in the air we breathe. This magical process is called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomorrowsworldtoday.com\/nature\/gardin-raises-funds-to-advance-its-photosynthesis-sensor-ai-platform\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">photosynthesis<\/a>. A team of chemists at the University of Basel believes the same biological process could be turned into a man-made molecule. They reportedly designed a molecule that can store energy from sunlight to provide a clean, carbon-neutral fuel.<\/p>\n<p>A New Molecule\u2019s Potential for Carbon-Neutral Fuels<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Photosynthesis molecule \" alt=\"Photosynthesis molecule \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-design-33.png\" data- class=\"wp-image-46202 size-full lazyload\"\/>The illustration shows how the new molecule temporarily stores two positive and two negative charges; Photo: Deyanira Geisn\u00e6s Schaad<\/p>\n<p>Professor Oliver Wenger and doctoral student Mathis Br\u00e4ndlin led the study. The researchers created a five-part molecule that can hold four charges at once\u2014two positive and two negative. It\u2019s similar to a microscopic solar panel. According to the researchers, when a beam of light hits the molecule\u2019s central component, it starts a chain reaction.<\/p>\n<p>One part of the molecule gives up an electron, becoming positive, while another part grabs it and becomes negative.<\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, the team found a way to double the process with a second flash of light, enabling the molecule to store four charges. Researchers call this method a game-changer because it allows the molecule to work with dimmer light, a major step toward using everyday sunlight instead of powerful, impractical lasers. Br\u00e4ndlin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unibas.ch\/en\/News-Events\/News\/Uni-Research\/Chemistry-Artificial-Photosynthesis-Solar-Fuels.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">said<\/a>, \u201cWe are already moving close to the intensity of sunlight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn addition, the charges in the molecule remain stable long enough to be used for further chemical reactions,\u201d Br\u00e4ndlin added.<\/p>\n<p>While this molecule isn\u2019t a complete solution for artificial photosynthesis yet, it\u2019s a crucial piece of the puzzle. It shows that we can mimic nature\u2019s most fundamental energy processes to create fuels that don\u2019t harm the planet.<\/p>\n<p>Their work uses nature as a blueprint to build a cleaner, brighter future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have identified and implemented an important piece of the puzzle,\u201d Professor Wenger concluded, \u201cWe hope that this will help us contribute to new prospects for a sustainable energy future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plants transform sunlight into fuel, creating oxygen in the air we breathe. This magical process is called photosynthesis.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,6145,64126,337,128,42119],"class_list":["post-104455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-inventions","tag-product-development","tag-research","tag-science","tag-world-of-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}