太陽能應(yīng)用新突破：將二氧化碳轉(zhuǎn)化為燃料

據(jù)油價網(wǎng)6月11日報道，植物及其將光和空氣轉(zhuǎn)化為燃料的巧妙方式，已為許多科學(xué)家?guī)砹遂`感。如今，光合作用為解決我們的二氧化碳問題奠定了基礎(chǔ)。瑞典林雪平大學(xué)（Swedish Linkping University）的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種利用太陽能將二氧化碳轉(zhuǎn)化為其他化學(xué)物質(zhì)作為燃料的方法。他們設(shè)計了一種稱之為光電極的東西，這種光電極覆蓋在一層石墨烯上，石墨烯是一種被廣為宣傳的材料，基本上就是一層碳原子，它能捕獲太陽能并產(chǎn)生電荷載體。接下來，它們將二氧化碳和水轉(zhuǎn)化為甲烷、一氧化碳和甲酸。

這是最新跡象，表明正在努力尋找利用二氧化碳的方法，而二氧化碳是許多環(huán)境倡議甚至《巴黎協(xié)定》本身的目標(biāo)。而且這種動力正在加快，技術(shù)突破的可能性可能會持續(xù)下去。

例如，今年早些時候，美國國家可再生能源實驗室和南加州大學(xué)宣布，他們已經(jīng)制造出一種新型催化劑，可以使氫化——一種比將二氧化碳轉(zhuǎn)化為碳氫化合物更便宜的過程。

他們的催化劑利用納米技術(shù)添加了碳化鉬的納米顆粒。碳化鉬是一種金屬和碳的化合物，具有廣泛的應(yīng)用范圍，其中包括將二氧化碳轉(zhuǎn)化為一氧化碳以用于化學(xué)生產(chǎn)，以及轉(zhuǎn)化為碳氫化合物。

在所有尋求利用我們在大氣中釋放的二氧化碳的項目中，成本是一個重要的考慮因素。例如，碳捕獲技術(shù)的成本昂貴，許多人認(rèn)為，這種技術(shù)永遠也負(fù)擔(dān)不起，不可能成為大規(guī)模解決全球排放問題的合理方法。

原文如下：

New Solar Breakthrough Turns Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel

Plants and their ingenious way of turning light and air into fuel have been an inspiration for many scientists. Now, photosynthesis has made the basis for a possible solution to our carbon dioxide problem. Researchers from the Swedish Link?ping University have found a way to use solar power to convert carbon dioxide into other chemicals for use as a fuel. They did this by devising what they called a photoelectrode covered in a layer of graphene—the much-hyped material that is basically a single layer of carbon atoms—which captures solar energy and creates charge carriers. Next, they convert carbon dioxide and water into methane, carbon monoxide, and formic acid.

This is the latest sign that a drive is underway to find ways to utilize the carbon dioxide that is the target of so many environmental initiatives and even the Paris Agreement itself. And this drive is gathering pace, with breakthroughs likely to keep coming.

Earlier this year, for example, the National Renewable Energy Lab and the University of Southern California announced they had made a new sort of catalyst that could make hydrogenation—a process than can turn carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons—cheaper.

Their catalyst utilized nanotechnology to add nanoparticles of molybdenum carbide—a compound featuring a metal and carbon that has an extensive range of applications, among them the conversion of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide to be used in chemicals production, and into hydrocarbons.

Cost is an essential consideration in all projects seeking to make use of the carbon dioxide that we release in the atmosphere instead of just leaving it there and worrying about it. Carbon capture technology is notoriously expensive, for example, and many believe it would never become affordable enough to make sense as a large-scale solution to the world's emissions problem.