Energy efficiency of photochemical reactions increased tenfold
Published: Monday, Mar 18th 2024, 12:10
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Researchers at the University of Basel have found a way to produce medicines and plastics more efficiently. In a new study, they show how the energy efficiency of so-called photochemical reactions could be increased tenfold.
More sustainable and cost-effective applications are now within reach, the University of Basel announced on Monday.
Chemical reactions usually need energy from heat to start. Photoreactions take their energy from light instead of heat. As the Basel researchers led by Oliver Wenger have now discovered, the choice of dye can increase the energy efficiency of such photochemical reactions. They presented this principle on Monday in the journal "Nature Chemistry".
In photochemical reactions, light causes molecules floating in a solvent to exchange electrons and become so-called radicals. These radicals remain "locked" in pairs in the solvent. In order to react with other molecules, they must first break out of this cage.
Breaking out drives efficiency
The researchers have discovered that breaking the radicals out of the solvent cage is a crucial step that limits the efficiency and speed of these reactions. This is because if the radicals remain in the cage, they can react back to the starting materials in an undesirable way, which wastes energy. The researchers were able to slow down this reverse reaction by using a dye.
To do this, they tested two different dyes. These absorb light and store its energy for a short time before using it to form radical pairs. One dye was able to store significantly more energy and transfer it to the radicals than the other. This enabled the radicals to leave the solvent cage up to ten times more efficiently.
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