The world’s scientific community has been searching for a way to create limitless energy. From Moon crystals to molecules that violate the laws of physics, the possibilities have been all over the place. Now, though, researchers may have found a way to use artificial photosynthesis to harness how plants generate energy and use it for ourselves.
Kazunari Domen led the team of engineers, and they were able to take things a step further by developing a system that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen gas using sunlight. From there, they hoped to evolve the process to more closely mimic the system plants use, absorbing the carbon dioxide and storing the energy from the Sun in methane, essentially acting as an artificial version of photosynthesis. It’s a system very similar to solar panels.