About half of global energy demand is met by heating and two-thirds of that is met by burning fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil and coal. Solar power is a possible alternative, but although we have become quite good at storing solar energy in lithium-ion batteries, we are not so good at storing heat.
To store heat for days, weeks or months, you need to trap the energy in the bonds of a molecule that can later release the heat on demand. The approach to this particular chemistry problem is called molecular solar thermal (MOST) energy storage. Although it has been touted as the next big thing for decades, it never really took off.
recently Science In the paper, a team of researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara and UCLA have demonstrated a breakthrough that could ultimately make most energy storage cost-effective.
dna connection
In the past, most energy storage solutions have suffered from underperformance. The molecules either did not store enough energy, they decayed too quickly, or they required toxic solvents that made them impractical. To find a way to deal with these issues, a team led by chemist Han P. Nguyen of the University of California, Santa Barbara, took inspiration from the genetic damage caused by sunburn. The idea was to store energy similar to the reaction that allows UV light to damage DNA.
When you stay out at the beach too long, high-energy ultraviolet light can cause adjacent bases in DNA (thymine, the T in the genetic code) to link together. This forms a structure known as a (6-4) lesion. When that lesion is exposed to even more UV light, it changes into an even weirder shape called the “Dewar” isomer. In biology, this is bad news, because Dewar isomers create disturbances in the double-helix spiral of DNA that disrupt DNA replication and can lead to mutations or cancer.
To counter this effect, evolution shaped a specific enzyme called photolyase to detect (6-4) lesions and revert them to their safe, stable forms.
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