The years-long quest to make an ‘artificial leaf’ as a promising fuel alternative

Associate Professor Miguel Modestino, Director of NYU Tandon’s Sustainable Engineering Initiative, began his journey at UC Berkeley with an inspiring vision: creating artificial leaves that could turn solar energy into fuel, just as plants do. "The concept of an artificial leaf is beautiful. It's inspiring," he recalls. But as an NYU Tandon faculty member, he's learned a hard lesson about market realities: "Clean fuels do the same function as dirty fuels... You need to compete on very similar markets, and fuel markets are hyper competitive." Rather than abandon the technology, Modestino adapted — pivoting to use artificial leaf technology to make nylon from solar power and renewable materials, a more economically viable application that could still help reduce dependence on fossil fuels.