Home▸Energy & Thermodynamics▸Artificial Photosynthesis: Turning Sunlight, Water and CO2 into Fuel

⚗️ Artificial Photosynthesis: CO₂-to-Fuel Lab

Artificial photosynthesis uses catalysts rather than leaves to convert captured carbon dioxide and water into methanol, hydrogen and other fuels — a real but still largely pilot-scale route to solar-driven chemistry.

Energy & Thermodynamics3DAdvanced60 FPS💧 Water

A 3D catalytic cell where sunlight drives water oxidation at a photoanode while captured CO₂ is reduced into fuel molecules at a catalyst-coated cathode — the core mechanism behind real artificial-photosynthesis devices.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Photons absorbed at the anode free electrons that split water into oxygen, protons and electrons; those electrons travel through an external wire to the cathode, where a catalyst combines them with CO₂ and protons to build fuel molecules.

🎮 How to Use

Adjust sunlight intensity, CO₂ concentration and applied bias voltage, and swap between copper, silver and copper–zinc-oxide catalysts to see how each favours a different fuel product and Faradaic efficiency.

💡 Did You Know?

Catalyst chemistry, not just light intensity, largely decides what comes out of the cell — copper is famous for producing a messy mix of multi-carbon products, while silver and gold are prized for near-perfect selectivity toward carbon monoxide.

⚙ Under the hood

artificial photosynthesissolar energyfuelscatalysischemistryrenewable energyThree.js

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install