Sugar, light and new fields of science help us not to depend on fossil fuels?

The problem is how to use 2 broken photons linked between 2 carbon atoms?

In June 2018, the US Department of Energy published a brief notice on its website. They approved a budget of $ 100 million during the year to finance 22 new Energy Frontier research centers (EFRC).

Energy Frontier is a program that links research labs across the United States to find solutions to energy problems. One of the research labs is located at Princeton University, where there will be a $ 11 million cash flow poured in over the next 4 years.

The money is devoted to promoting a revolution, answering questions about energy and environmental science that we have not solved at this time. Scientists are aiming to exploit plants and industrial waste to get energy, helping us to get rid of dependence on fossil fuels, the main cause of environmental pollution.

If the effort at Princeton University is successful, it will open a whole new science branch called Bioinspired Light Escalated Chemistry (BioLEC) . The goal of this field is to find out how to use the energy of two photons to provide a chemical reaction.

It sounds simple - we know that plants always do this during photosynthesis. But BioLEC is much more complicated than just shining a flashlight into a test tube. Scientists have studied it for a long time. Until now, the regeneration of these photosynthetic reactions in the laboratory is still impossible.

Until now, the regeneration of these photosynthetic reactions in the laboratory is still impossible.

The BioLEC begins by searching for an organic molecule from plants, possibly a sugar molecule, or alcohol - any molecule that contains a carbon chain and an OH radical is fine. This is easy, these molecules are abundant in nature.

Anyone who has learned through universal chemistry knows that chemical bonds between carbon molecules are difficult to break. But if we can find a way to add a photon to it, CC links will be weakened.

And once we break those links, we will be able to create jet fuel - basically essentially chemical molecules that contain carbon chains. It sounds easy, assuming you have a alcohol molecule, C ₂ H ₅ OH. The job is to break all the carbon bonds, recombine them and remove OH radicals in the form of water.

Scientists have long known how to use the energy of a single photon to break down some carbon bonds . But to create jet fuel, they need to use additional energy from the second photon to break all the links. And this is too difficult, even with the most advanced scientific tools available today.

Part of the reason because light needs to be targeted at a catalyst, scientists have to control a very small amount of energy, at a very appropriate time. There are many things that require precision in this reaction.

"The point here is that chemistry at this time cannot attack strong links , " said BioLEC project director Gregory Scholes from Princeton University. "Once you can attack and edit them, you can get a reactive molecule" - that's the kind of molecule that the system (whether it's a garden tree or jet) can used as an energy source.

Once we break down the CC links, we will be able to create cheap jet fuel.

Imagine alcohol atoms like two brand new books that the bookstore just sent you. Newly, it is still wrapped in plastic film. And now, you want to combine both books to create a huge energy source.

You know exactly how to put the pages of these two books together. You also know how to peel plastic packaging (that is the original OH). But the problem is, you can't rip the book page by page because their glue is pretty sure. Unable to unscrew the book, you cannot merge them.

BioLEC is the science that wants to untie the book. Once researchers find a solution, a whole new field of chemistry will be born. It will allow us to produce jet fuel from anything in nature.

Lighting on a cane, and you will get clean, abundant and cheap energy. We can also use the technology that Scholes and his team are developing to disrupt industrial waste for energy.

Therefore, BioLEC not only cleans our entire industrial production - but also turns waste into clean, biodegradable and fuel compounds. The abundance of cheap materials will also reduce energy costs.

However, this does not reduce the greenhouse gas emissions generated by burning fuels when we get them. But it is still a great improvement compared to the exploitation and burning of fossil fuels.

Going to the tree also knows how to absorb the second photon, why can't humans?

"We think our research will be successful, because the same principles have happened in nature as photosynthesis," Scholes said. "While we have not mimicked nature directly, photosynthesis has provided a proof of principle [that it can also happen in the laboratory]."

"It's very simple to hear." Oh, just absorbing the light twice is fine, "he continued." But the reality is much more difficult. We are having to draw a lot of strategies and this needs new people. "

At Princeton University, Scholes is bringing together a team of experts from a variety of fields such as chemistry, engineering, and high-energy physics to solve the problem together. Pinceton University also partnered with the Laser Electronic Acceleration Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory, one of two US facilities that are developing pulse dispersion techniques that can break down carbon bonds.

Pulse dispersion is essentially the same as magnifying glass under sunlight to kill ants. Replacing sunlight with a powerful laser beam, and the ants are now tiny molecules, you will get pulse dispersion technology. In it, laser pulses collide with molecules, energizing them to react and break chemical bonds.

These form reactions are being studied in extremely short time frames, down to billions of a second. Thereby, the BioLEC team can look at very small intermediate steps in the reaction to understand what happens when they fire energy into the catalyst. And from the base, they will find ways to make the reactions stronger, breaking the stubborn carbon links.

BioLEC not only cleans our entire industrial production - but also turns waste into clean, biodegradable and fuel compounds.

It is a difficult task. At this early stage, it is impossible to know whether Scholes and his team can complete the job in 4 years with 11 million USD. But Scholes seems optimistic.

After all, nature has given us proof of success. Going to the tree also knows how to absorb the second photon, why can't humans?