Question

What is artificial photosynthesis? How is it different from natural photosynthesis?
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Please answer!!!

Answer 1

What is Photosynthesis?


Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants use sunlight to synthesise foods from carbon dioxide and water. The process combines 6 molecules of carbon dioxide and 6 molecules of water to produce one molecule of glucose and 6 oxygen molecules. The glucose is stored in the plant as starch and cellulose which are simply long chain glucose molecules (known as polysaccharides) as a source of food for the plant to survive and grow. The oxygen that is produced as a byproduct of photosynthesis is what most animals rely on to breath, so the process plants and trees fulfil on our behalf is critical to our survival.

We already can harness light energy from the sun to produce electricity via solar photovoltaic cells, however there is a fundamental issue with electricity that we are currently facing and that is that we have no suitable way of storing the electricity produced (batteries are limited), so we have to use the electricity as it is produced otherwise we essentially lose it.

The beauty of photosynthesis is that it locks energy from the sun within the chemical bonds in the glucose molecule. Therefore plants are not only producing energy, but they also have the ability to store it.

Artificial Photosynthesis...


If we could somehow artificially replicate the photosynthetic process completed by plants, we would be able to lower carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, while also producing sugar that we could use for food and energy production. The ultimate goal though is to take the natural process of photosynthesis and improve it, making it more efficient, absorbing more light, at a wider range of wavelengths, potentially even in the dark to produce more energy.

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