From Caltech
Researchers in the Rose City will lead a five-year, $122-million, multidisciplinary, multi-institution push to develop 'revolutionary' new ways to generate fuels directly from sunlight. Chem prof Nathan Lewis and his colleagues will be joined by top experts at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Stanford and the UCs in Berkeley, Irvine, Santa Barbara and San Diego. This 'hub' hopes to make 'game-changing' findings to move from the lab to real world application as swiftly as possible a clean energy system that emulates plants, combining sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. They will labor to create all the practical, commercial components of this photosynthetic system, including light absorbers, catalysts, molecular linkers and separation membranes. Federal authorities made this sizable grant, they said, because the potential for solar energy systems has existed for too long just in theory and research; for the national security and environmental needs of the nation, especially to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels imported from other countries, the U.S. must develop and put in place the technology for a direct solar fuels industry.
U.S. picks Caltech for California research hub to move direct solar fuels from theory to reality
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