High-Flux Solar-Driven Thermochemical Dissociation of CO ₂ and H ₂ O Using Nonstoichiometric Ceria

TLDR

Solar energy can be used to convert CO₂ into carbon‑based polymers and aromatics, which can then be processed into fuels. The authors investigate whether sunlight can directly convert CO₂ into hydrocarbon fuels without plant growth intermediates. Concentrated sunlight heats cerium oxide to ~1500 °C, releasing lattice oxygen that strips O atoms from CO₂ or H₂O to produce CO and H₂, which can then be combined into fuels. Chueh et al.

Abstract

Fuel from Heat Plants grow by using energy from the Sun to convert carbon dioxide into sugar-based polymers and aromatics. These compounds in turn can be stripped of their oxygen, either through millennia of underground degradation to yield fossil fuels, or through a rather more rapid process of dissolution, fermentation, and hydrogenation to yield biofuels. Can we use sunlight to turn CO 2 into hydrocarbon fuel without relying on the intervening steps of plant growth and breakdown? Chueh et al. (p. 1797 ) demonstrate one possible approach, in which concentrated sunlight heats cerium oxide to a sufficiently high temperature (∼1500°C) to liberate some oxygen from its lattice. The material then readily strips O atoms from either water or CO 2 , yielding hydrogen or CO, which can then be combined to form fuels.