MIT chemists see near-term promise in mimicking photosynthesis

With gas and oil prices at all-time highs, it’s only logical for scientists to try to harness some of that solar energy. To that end, three MIT researchers are building a device that mimics photosynthesis–the process plants use to capture and store the sun’s vast energy.

“To turn sunlight into fuel, that’s a chemistry process,” says Jonas Peters, MIT’s Keck Professor of Energy and Chemistry. “Nature has come up with an elaborate chemical solution, and it looks like we’re going to need an elaborate chemical solution as well, and we need to do it efficiently.”
MIT chemists including Nocera, Peters and Christopher Cummins are part of a National Science Foundation-funded solar project, in collaboration with Caltech. The researchers are also part of MIT’s recently announced Solar Revolution Project (SRP), which aims to transform solar power into an affordable, mainstream energy solution in the near future.

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