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Concept
Solar fuel
Summary
A solar fuel is a synthetic chemical fuel produced from solar energy.
Solar fuels can be produced through photochemical (i.e. activation of certain chemical reactions by photons), photobiological (i.e., artificial photosynthesis), and electrochemical reactions (i.e. using the electricity from solar panels to drive a chemical reaction).
Solar fuels can also be produced by thermochemical reactions (i.e., through the use of solar heat supplied by concentrated solar thermal energy to drive a chemical reaction).
Light is used as an energy source, with solar energy being transduced to chemical energy, typically by reducing protons to hydrogen, or carbon dioxide to organic compounds.
A solar fuel can be produced and stored for later use, when sunlight is not available, making it an alternative to fossil fuels and batteries. Examples of such fuels are hydrogen, ammonia, and hydrazine.
Diverse photocatalysts are being developed to carry these reactions in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way.
The world's dependence on the declining reserves of fossil fuels poses not only environmental problems but also geopolitical ones. Solar fuels, in particular hydrogen, are viewed as an alternative source of energy for replacing fossil fuels especially where storage is essential. Electricity can be produced directly from sunlight through photovoltaics, but this form of energy is rather inefficient to store compared to hydrogen. A solar fuel can be produced when and where sunlight is available, and stored and transported for later usage. This makes it much more convenient, because it can be used in situations where direct sunlight is not available.
The most widely researched solar fuels are hydrogen, because the only product of using this fuel is water, and products of photochemical carbon dioxide reduction, which are more conventional fuels like methane and propane. Upcoming research also involves ammonia and related substances (i.e. hydrazine). These can address the challenges that come with hydrogen, by being a more compact and safer way of storing hydrogen.
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