Solar fuel generation from water and carbon dioxide through thermochemical redox cycling of ferrites
Andrea STEVENS, Rahul R. BHOSALE
Abstract. The global shift toward sustainable energy solutions has established thermochemical redox cycles as a primary area of research in solar fuel production. While the thermodynamic feasibility of Ni-ferrite–driven CO2 splitting (CDS) is well documented, the impact of CDS operating temperature on solar-to-fuel energy conversion efficiency has not been thoroughly investigated. This study employs a comprehensive thermodynamic model systematically assess the influence of CDS temperature, ranging from 700 K to 1200 K, on overall system efficiency. The analysis is conducted under conditions of constant thermal reduction temperature (1280 K), fixed heat recuperation effectiveness, and an argon flow rate of 70 mol/s. Findings demonstrate that higher CDS temperatures significantly decrease sensible heat requirements and thermochemical energy penalties by reducing the temperature gap between reduction and oxidation steps. As a result, total solar energy demand is lowered from 355.9 kW to 234.9 kW, and solar-to-fuel energy conversion efficiency increases from 8.0% to 12.1%. These findings highlight the critical role of CDS temperature in reducing thermal losses and improving energy utilization, offering essential design insights for the development of efficient and scalable high-temperature solar reactors.
Keywords
Solar Fuel, Water Splitting, CO2 Splitting, Thermochemical Cycle, Ferrites
Published online 6/20/2026, 8 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Andrea STEVENS, Rahul R. BHOSALE, Solar fuel generation from water and carbon dioxide through thermochemical redox cycling of ferrites, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 67, pp 215-222, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904176-31
The article was published as article 31 of the book Climate Action and Sustainability
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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