Issue 1, 2021

Powering the next industrial revolution: transitioning from nonrenewable energy to solar fuels via CO2 reduction

Abstract

Solar energy has been used for decades for the direct production of electricity in various industries and devices; however, harnessing and storing this energy in the form of chemical bonds has emerged as a promising alternative to fossil fuel combustion. The common feedstocks for producing such solar fuels are carbon dioxide and water, yet only the photoconversion of carbon dioxide presents the opportunity to generate liquid fuels capable of integrating into our existing infrastructure, while simultaneously removing atmospheric greenhouse gas pollution. This review presents recent advances in photochemical solar fuel production technology. Although efforts in this field have created an incredible number of methods to convert carbon dioxide into gaseous and liquid fuels, these can generally be classified under one of four categories based on how incident sunlight is utilised: solar concentration for thermoconversion (Category 1), transformation toward electroconversion (Category 2), natural photosynthesis for bioconversion (Category 3), and artificial photosynthesis for direct photoconversion (Category 4). Select examples of developments within each of these categories is presented, showing the state-of-the-art in the use of carbon dioxide as a suitable feedstock for solar fuel production.

Graphical abstract: Powering the next industrial revolution: transitioning from nonrenewable energy to solar fuels via CO2 reduction

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
11 Sept. 2020
Accepted
18 Nov. 2020
First published
22 Dec. 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2021,11, 87-113

Powering the next industrial revolution: transitioning from nonrenewable energy to solar fuels via CO2 reduction

R. J. Batrice and J. C. Gordon, RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 87 DOI: 10.1039/D0RA07790A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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