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Nanotechnology innovation: it is now possible to produce alcohol from air
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Employees of the American Institute of Physics have invented the latest graphene and copper "nano-needles" that convert carbon dioxide into ethyl alcohol particles using the energy potential of electric current. Such data are described in the periodical Chemistry Select.
"Our discovery was discovered, one might say, by accident. At the very beginning of our journey, we set ourselves a similar task, but planned to spend much more effort and time on its implementation. It turned out that the transformation occurs virtually independently, without our active participation" - this is the statement made by one of the experiment participants, an employee of the national laboratory in Oak Ridge (Tennessee).
It is worth noting that over the past decade, scientists have repeatedly attempted to transform atmospheric components into fuel and other substances. For example, this year, in midsummer, Chicago physicists invented a specific solar nanobattery that uses a stream of light energy for the molecular decomposition of carbon dioxide. This made it possible to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide for the final production of methane, ethyl alcohol and other types of biofuel.
Experts have been working on these processes for a long time, trying to identify the most optimal methods of decomposing carbon dioxide, with a minimum set of auxiliary transformation products (often useless or even frankly unnecessary).
Nanotechnologists chose copper as the main substance that facilitates the process, as its properties fit perfectly into the reaction of carbon dioxide reduction.
The problem was that copper, as a result of the transformation, contributed to the formation of not one component, but several, which became a serious obstacle to the application of this discovery in industry.
And yet, the problem was solved by additionally using another super-strong and super-energy-intensive revolutionary material – graphene.
Having given the sheet graphene a unique shape, the technologists partially applied copper nanoparticles to it. This made it possible to ensure that the carbon dioxide molecules were decomposed only in certain areas, namely, at the tips of the “nano-needles”.
During the experiment, the researchers were able to gain control over the process and provoked the conversion of 60% of carbon dioxide into ethanol.
So far, many details of this nanoreaction remain unsolved. However, the technology is already close to being used for industrial alcohol production. Moreover, the new production will be more profitable: with a relatively low cost of catalyst substances, it is possible to obtain almost any amount of the final product - ethyl alcohol.
According to the assumptions of practicing specialists, the results of this study can also be used to accumulate additional energy, which could be concentrated in solar batteries or other storage devices. The energy obtained can then be used as a biological fuel material for various household and industrial needs.
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