Solar Chemistry to Turn CO2 into Common Materials
The manufacture of many chemicals important to human health and
comfort consumes fossil fuels, thereby contributing to extractive
processes, carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. A new approach
employs sunlight to convert waste carbon dioxide into these needed
chemicals, potentially reducing emissions in two ways: by using the
unwanted gas as a raw material and sunlight, not fossil fuels, as the
source of energy needed for production.
This process is becoming increasingly feasible thanks to advances in sunlight-activated catalysts, or photocatalysts. In recent years
investigators have developed photocatalysts that break the resistant
double bond between carbon and oxygen in carbon dioxide. This is a
critical first step in creating "solar" refineries that produce useful compounds from the waste gas--including "platform" molecules that can
serve as raw materials for the synthesis of such varied products as
medicines, detergents, fertilizers and textiles.
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https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/scientific-insights/solar-chemistry-co2-into-common-materials/>
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