147. Solar Fuel Reactor Generates Energy Out of Thin Air

The Next Byte Podcast · 7 Nov 2023 · 20m

What this episode covers

Hosts Daniel and Forbode discuss a solar fuel reactor developed at ETH Zurich that uses a 3D-printed ceramic core to generate syngas from atmospheric CO2 and water. The team replaced traditional isotropic porous structures with a hierarchical channel design to reduce solar energy attenuation, doubling the fuel yield. This technology has been licensed to spinoff companies Climeworks and Synhelion for commercialization, offering a pathway to sustainable aviation fuel without changing existing infrastructure.

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