Selective and effective: silicon nanowires as photoelectrodes for carbon dioxide fixation
Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - 11:01
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org) -- During photosynthesis, plants capture solar energy and use it to drive chemical reactions. Their carbon source is the CO2 in air. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, American scientists have now proposed a new reaction mechanism that binds CO2 and strongly resembles photosynthesis. In this process, light energy is captured by silicon nanowires. It was successfully used to synthesize two precursors of the anti-inflammatory, pain reducing drugs ibuprofen and naproxen.