Haile Project for Transformative Materials for High-Efficiency Thermochemical Production of Solar Fuels

Metal oxide-based two-step solar thermochemical (STC) H2O and CO2-splitting cycles are a promising route to convert solar thermal energy into fuels. The metal oxide materials are reduced at high temperatures (Step 1), and then at low (but still elevated) temperatures, the reduced oxide is used to split H2O or CO2 (Step 2). However, current applications of these cycles are limited by the efficiency of the metal oxide materials. A lower temperature for reduction is desirable, but that bring a concomitant reduction in the driving force for gas splitting. So, designing novel, high-efficiency materials is challenging. Here, we propose a joint computational-experimental project, combined with materials design strategies and high-throughput approaches to quickly discover and demonstrate novel thermochemical materials with superior properties.