Humans burn millions of tons of fossil fuels every day, putting a massive amount of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. Recently, a team of researchers figured out a way to reverse the process and turn some of that CO2 back into fuel.

Harvard researchers Daniel Nocera and Pamela Silver have developed a bionic leaf' that mimics natural photosynthesis, converting water and carbon dioxide into fuel, according to a paper published in Science . The researchers developed a two-part system that uses solar power to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, then uses bacteria to convert the hydrogen along with atmospheric carbon dioxide into liquid fuels.

The new bionic leaf converts 180 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour of energy, which is ten times more efficient than actual plants. The researchers hope that this technology will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels in the future.

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The bionic leaf is an improvement on an earlier design, one that also used solar power to convert water into pure hydrogen for use in fuel cells. The previous design was limited, both because hydrogen is not a common fuel source and because the conversion rate was very inefficient. However, this new design used a superior alloy to create the hydrogen, allowing a much greater efficiency, and also incorporated bacteria to convert the hydrogen into fuel, using atmospheric CO2.

Currently, the bionic leaf can only generate a few products, like isobutanol and isopropanol, but the research team is confident they can expand the system to produce any number of carbon compounds. Regardless, the bionic leaf provides a reliable, cost-effective way to remove large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also creating a semi-useful byproduct. With any luck, a bionic leaf may power your car in the future.

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