University of Cambridge researchers have developed ultra-thin artificial leaves that can float and generate clean fuels from both sunlight as well as water. The ultimate goal for these low-cost, autonomous devices is to operate them on a large scale and generate a sustainable alternative to petrol without taking up space on land.
Ultimately, the experience was a success and marks the first time that clean fuel has been generated on water. If scaled up in the future, these artificial leaves could be used on polluted waterways, in bustling ports or even at sea, thus reducing the global shipping industry’s reliance on fossil fuels. We can only imagine how far AI could advance these artificial leaves, as long as you don’t have two chatbots trying to converse with each other.
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We wanted to see how far we can trim down the materials these devices use, while not affecting their performance. If we can trim the materials down far enough that they’re light enough to float, then it opens up whole new ways that these artificial leaves could be used,” said Erwin Reisner, Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge.
