Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization - Office of ...

CONCLUSION
The efficient production of clean solar fuels presents many scientific challenges. Yet progress in
this field to date provides a strong argument that this goal is achievable. The major scientific
challenges that will need to be addressed are (1) understanding biological mechanisms for the
efficient production of fuels from biomass; (2) developing a detailed knowledge of how the
molecular machinery of photosynthesis captures and converts sunlight into chemical energy;
(3) discovering how to use this knowledge to develop robust, bio-inspired chemical systems to
carry out photoconversion; (4) developing catalysts that use photo-generated chemical energy to
efficiently produce such fuels as CH4 and H2; and (5) developing an integrated photo-driven
system for solar fuels formation with optimized performance and a long functional lifetime.
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