Looking for the “perfect chemical reaction”
Prof. Benjamin List receives 10 million euros in funding from the Werner Siemens Foundation for a new research project.
For years, Prof. Benjamin List has been developing the idea of simulating photosynthesis as a catalytic reaction in the lab. Now the chemist from Mülheim is receiving generous financial support from Switzerland for this project.
There is a consensus among scientists that climate change caused by humans exists. There is also a consensus that we must take urgent action if we want to preserve the planet as a habitable place for future generations of our species. However, how can we not only succeed in reducing humanity's CO2 emissions, but also in filtering out the carbon dioxide that has already been released into the atmosphere?
Prof. Benjamin List, Director at the Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung, has been working on an idea for years: He is searching for a catalytic process to develop an artificial form of photosynthesis that is limited to the essentials – using light to filter carbon from the atmosphere. Now he is getting a boost for this idea from Switzerland. The Werner Siemens Foundation, which is dedicated to financing innovative research projects, is supporting List's endeavor with a total of 10 million euros.
“I am extremely grateful for the support and, above all, for the trust of the Werner Siemens Foundation,” says List, who is well aware of the risk behind his endeavor. It is clear that his idea sounds a bit crazy, he emphasizes. ‘But a crazy idea is a necessary condition for a revolutionary discovery. Although it is, of course, not the only condition …’ the 2021 Nobel Prize winner is convinced. In the project, List is investigating the so-called photocatalytic splitting of carbon dioxide. With the help of light energy, carbon dioxide is to be converted into carbon and oxygen.
Further information about the project can be found on the website of the Werner Siemens Foundation.