The Japanese multinational electronics corporation Panasonic just made it public news that it has succeeded in developing and manufacturing an artificial photosynthesis system which can convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into organic material.

As one can easily imagine, this means that the CO2 resulting from carrying out various industrial activities might soon be dealt with in a quick and efficient manner, the end result being that air pollution will be considerably diminished.

Since air pollution is known to be largely responsible for climate change and numerous public health issues, this is good news indeed.

A report on this artificial photosynthesis system, available on the company's official website, informs us that researchers succeeded in finding this efficient method of dealing with atmospheric carbon dioxide by deciding to let go of overly complicated structures for said system, and instead turn towards a much simpler approach.

Thus, they agreed that using a nitride (i.e. a compound of nitrogen) semiconductor was the best way to go, since apparently this particular type of semiconductors is highly efficient in exciting the electrons to such a degree that the CO2 reduction reaction is set in motion.

By also incorporating a metal catalyst into the system, the scientists working with Panasonic managed to transform a combination of CO2 and water into formic acid (i.e. a carboxylic acid most often found in the venom of bees and ant stings).

As well as this, company representatives argue that the system successfully responds to focused light, which means that using it to diminish the ecological footprint of various industrial activities should prove to be fairly easy.

According to the same source, other specialists will be able to catch a glimpse of this innovative system during this year's International Conference on the Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy, in Pasadena, US.

From where we stand, it is a good thing that ever more efforts are going into developing new techniques and technologies which might help human society push for a much more environmentally-friendly future.