Page 96 - AWSAR 2.0

72 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
An Artificial Blue Leaf for a Greener Future
Dr Gayatribahen Joshi*
Email: gayatri.joshi@iitgn.ac.in
Our earth is changing rapidly day by day. Now, we face the summer heat very early in the day while the long wintery
nights are getting colder. The monsoon season is extending beyond its routine, affecting the crop cycle. This abrupt change in the climate did not happen overnight but gradually altered over the past few decades. It took us years to comprehend that numerous anthropogenic activities were the biggest culprits behind this scenario. Ever since the age of industrialization, energy has evolved as one of the essential commodities in human society. With the advancement of the civilisation, the need for energy increased exponentially, and with that increase, the production of energy. To date, fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas remain the primary resources for this energy
harvest worldwide. However, the burning of these fossil fuels generates an excessive amount of CO that inadvertently affects our climate. Thus, 2 we are standing on a critical juncture, where we need a continuous source of energy to continue the societal growth, preferably with minimal side-effects on the environment. Can we imagine ourselves living without any electricity, power, gas, petrol and so on? Therefore, we are trying to create an economically viable and environment-friendly energy source, which can be used to meet the energy requirements in the long run.
Omnipresent solar energy has emerged as one of the best bets in this pursuit of an alternative clean energy resource. Despite all the advantages, the sunlight is only available during the limited hours of the day. Hence,
* Dr Gayatribahen Joshi, Post Doctoral Fellow from Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, is pursuing her research on “Design Gold Nano-Structures Based Devices for Various Applications”. Her popular science story entitled “An Artificial Blue Leaf for a Greener Future” has been selected for AWSAR Award.