10
Solar Chemistry and CO 2 Conversion
Abstract
The utilization of solar energy for driving reactions in which CO 2 is converted into
energy-rich products is discussed in this chapter. Three approaches are considered:
i. electrolysis of water by photovoltaic energy to generate hydrogen used, in turn,
for the hydrogenation of CO 2 to gaseous or liquid fuels; ii. use of concentrated
solar power for splitting CO 2 and H 2 O and making Syngas; iii. the direct
co-processing of water and CO 2 to energy-rich products under solar irradiation.
The former option can be applied in the short term as both the electrolysis and CO 2
conversion are well-known processes; the second needs some further improvement of both the technology for concentrating solar energy and catalysts for H 2 O
and CO 2 splitting and may be applied in the medium term; the latter will most
likely be exploited in the medium–long term as new, effective and stable
photocatalysts must be discovered and advanced reactors-concentrators of solar
light need to be developed.
10.1 Introduction
Over one century ago (1912) Giacomo Ciamician, an Italian Professor at the
University of Bologna (Italy), in the incipit of his paper “La Fotochimica dell’Avvenire” (Photochemistry of Future) [1] wrote: “The modern civilization is
daughter of fossil carbon; the latter gives to humanity the solar energy in its most
concentrated form; accumulated during centuries the modern man uses it with
much avidity and careless lavishness for taking control of the world.” He concluded
by saying “omissis…. I believe that the industry should use all forms of energy that
Nature makes available; so far the modern civilization has mainly used fossil
energy: maybe it should be better to use the other forms of available energies?”.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Aresta and A. Dibenedetto, The Carbon Dioxide Revolution,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59061-1_10
177
Solar Chemistry and CO 2 Conversion
Abstract
The utilization of solar energy for driving reactions in which CO 2 is converted into
energy-rich products is discussed in this chapter. Three approaches are considered:
i. electrolysis of water by photovoltaic energy to generate hydrogen used, in turn,
for the hydrogenation of CO 2 to gaseous or liquid fuels; ii. use of concentrated
solar power for splitting CO 2 and H 2 O and making Syngas; iii. the direct
co-processing of water and CO 2 to energy-rich products under solar irradiation.
The former option can be applied in the short term as both the electrolysis and CO 2
conversion are well-known processes; the second needs some further improvement of both the technology for concentrating solar energy and catalysts for H 2 O
and CO 2 splitting and may be applied in the medium term; the latter will most
likely be exploited in the medium–long term as new, effective and stable
photocatalysts must be discovered and advanced reactors-concentrators of solar
light need to be developed.
10.1 Introduction
Over one century ago (1912) Giacomo Ciamician, an Italian Professor at the
University of Bologna (Italy), in the incipit of his paper “La Fotochimica dell’Avvenire” (Photochemistry of Future) [1] wrote: “The modern civilization is
daughter of fossil carbon; the latter gives to humanity the solar energy in its most
concentrated form; accumulated during centuries the modern man uses it with
much avidity and careless lavishness for taking control of the world.” He concluded
by saying “omissis…. I believe that the industry should use all forms of energy that
Nature makes available; so far the modern civilization has mainly used fossil
energy: maybe it should be better to use the other forms of available energies?”.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Aresta and A. Dibenedetto, The Carbon Dioxide Revolution,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59061-1_10
177