Photosynthesis Vs Solar Panels

However the production cost of silicon solar cells is high both in terms of monetary and energy costs.

Photosynthesis vs solar panels.

Converting solar energy into other materials dates back to edmund becquerel discover of the photovoltaic effect which is the operating principle of the solar cell in 1839 zamostny 2011. Solar cells chevon allen 01 23 2010 sci 115 professor garcia photosynthesis and the semiconductor based solar cell are very similar process with different ways of reaching the same goal. Photosynthesis is less efficient than solar panels. The photosynthetic efficiency is the fraction of light energy converted into chemical energy during photosynthesis in green plants and algae.

Natural solar energy is used by plants in the process of. In photosynthesis plant cells harness the solar energy of the sun with carbon dioxide to transform water molecules into. Instead biological systems are used to convert energy by leveraging photosynthesis thereby significantly lowering the cost of. Most commercially available solar panels have more than 10 times this efficiency.

Artificial photosynthesis is a chemical process that biomimics the natural process of photosynthesis to convert sunlight water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen the term artificial photosynthesis is commonly used to refer to any scheme for capturing and storing the energy from sunlight in the chemical bonds of a fuel a solar fuel. Photosynthesis can be described by the simplified chemical reaction 6 h 2 o 6 co 2 energy c 6 h 12 o 6 6 o 2. Where c 6 h 12 o 6 is glucose which is subsequently transformed into other sugars cellulose lignin and so forth. The desire to use solar energy to provide humans with more environmentally friendly electricity has inspired scientists to find the most efficient way to cultivate energy directly from the sun.

Determining the relative efficiency of photosynthesis and photovoltaics is not a simple problem by david biello on may 12 2011. Artificial photosynthesis can be a carbon negative source of liquid fuels like ethanol. According to the wikipedia page on photosynthetic efficiency typical plants have a radiant energy to chemical energy conversion efficiency between 0 1 and 2. The difference between photosynthesis and solar cells.

While solar panels are straining at the theoretical limits of their efficiency seeking to break free there s still a place for artificial photosynthesis.