Solar fuel technology in the UK
Driving solar fuels: Summary of a Royal Society of Chemistry workshop
ECG Bulletin July 2010
Introduction
Solar fuels are chemical fuels produced by harnessing energy from the sun. As it becomes increasingly necessary to investigate alternative renewable sources of energy, it is important to understand the current position of solar fuels research within the UK.The RSC policy document, Chemistry for Tomorrow’s World, is a road map that highlights solar fuels research as an important opportunity for the chemical sciences. In order to scope the current position of this research, and determine how to drive the development of solar fuels technology, the RSC held a workshop in December 2009 at the Chemistry Centre in London, which was chaired by Professor James Durrant, Imperial College, London. This article summarises the opinions of the expert group that took part in these discussions.
Key drivers.
The development of solar fuels technologies has several key drivers, including the following societal drivers:- The supply of energy to the UK has historically been through fossil fuels, which are a finite resource.
- Production of clean fuel is of global importance; there are major concerns regarding the use of fossil fuels as a predominant energy supply, namely pollution and growing CO2 emissions.
- There is a need to develop a globally scalable strategy for CO2-neutral synthesis and use of fuels for transport.
- Security of supply – the UK (along with many other countries)currently needs to buy its liquid fuels and so is subject to price fluctuations and dependent on good international relations.
- Renewable energy storage strategies to address the intermittency limitations of current UK renewable energy are currently based almost entirely on producing electricity.
- For the chemical industry to be sustainable, chemical feedstocks will need to shift from oil to alternatives.
- The use of CO2 as a large scale chemical feedstock for fuel synthesis would provide an alternative to CO2 sequestration.
Alongside these societal and commercial pressures, recent scientific advances are additional drivers for the timeliness of a solar fuel initiative.These include advances in the design, synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials, in our understanding of biological multielectron catalysis, and in rapid advances in the development of catalysts for electrochemical and photochemical fuel synthesis.
Solar fuels research strategies
Solar energy represents the largest renewable energy resource available globally. Research into solarfuels began during the oil price spike in the 1970s, and has now gained global momentum. The US recently announced a $250m solar fuels hub initiative, and solar fuels are gradually moving up the European agenda, for example the Dutch €35m Biosolar programme.At present, a range of strategies can be envisaged for solar fuel synthesis. These strategies range from the use of photovoltaics to drive water electrolysis through to the direct photo chemical reduction of CO2. Common features of all of these strategies are that they rely on solar energy and that they use multielectron catalysis to drive molecular fuel synthesis, often employing bio-inspired materials design and development.
Solar fuels research within the UK
It is vital that the UK engage in the rapidly developing field of solar fuels if we are to ensure that we establish a sound base on which to develop a leading research and development programme. This will allow commercial exploitation by UK plc in an area which has the potential to grow in the medium and long term to be a major component of global energy supply.The UK already has significant strengths in many relevant areas of research that support solar fuels technologies including world leading research in materials chemistry,catalysis chemistry, electrochemistry,molecular processes of photosynthesis,and organic and dye sensitized photovoltaics. There are several academic programmes within the UK which are directly focused upon solar fuel strategies, for example the SolarCAP project between the Universities of York, Nottingham, Manchester and UEA, which targets the development of photoelectrochemical nanoscale systems for CO2 fixation and alkane oxygenation. A collaboration between University College London(UCL) and University of Strathclyde is targeting nanocrystalline photochemical diodes for water splitting for CO2 fixation and alkane oxygenation, while scientists at Imperial College are investigating solar driven renewable hydrogen generation.
In addition, three new projects targeting CO2 reduction, based at Imperial College, UCL and University of Bath, are starting in May 2010 and have been funded under the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council‘s (EPSRC) Nanotechnology Grand Challenge programme.
There is significant value in further enhancing the strong research areas associated with solar fuels as successful products in the solar fuels supply chain will be in high demand throughout the world. It is possible that research in this area will be viewed as being of high risk due to the long time scales; they are technically highly challenging and it may take several years to advance technologically enough to create products which are ready to market. However, the financial and societal gains have potential to be very large when the technology comes to fruition.
Meeting solar fuels research challenges
Basic research and training
Within this relatively recent field of research, there are many significant fundamental questions that must still be answered, and, on this basis,the expansion of relevant scientific knowledge will depend on both applied and basic research. The most important foundation for the future of solar fuels research is the strong chemistry education required to develop a thorough knowledge base. Training the next generation of chemists should exist in a supportive environment; it should be stimulating and informative in order to retain skilled scientists in chemistry. The competent teaching of science and especially of chemistry is essential throughout all stages of schooling through to undergraduate and postgraduate studies in well equipped and well-funded universities.Funding
In order for the UK to benefit from the opportunities offered by the growth of a solar fuels industry,participants of the RSC workshop proposed that the following funding strategies should be presented to the relevant funding bodies:- A coherent solar fuels programme needs to be established. This requires a strategy that incorporates funding from BBSRC(Biotechnology and BiologicalSciences Research Council) andEPSRC in order to cover all areas of solar fuels research. It has been acknowledged by researchers within the field that a specific―centre of excellence‖ is not required.
- A managed programme will be required to accelerate the research in the most efficient way.
- In order to capitalise on investment in solar fuels research there needs to be a long term research programme.
- The UK should follow the lead of other countries where the funding duration is extended for projects that are long term and offer significant potential societal gain.
Raising awareness
There is currently very little general knowledge outside its core research base about solar fuels technologies. It is increasingly important to provide more substantial information for the general public, for industry and for government, in order that the potential of solar fuels can be understood. The RSC is well placed to communicate this potential to relevant stakeholders to ensure that it is fully appreciated.If the UK energy and chemical industries become more exposed to the idea of producing fuels and chemical feedstocks from solar energy, and to the science behind it, then the UK could be in a very strong position to develop this area.
Key stakeholders
Industry is cautious about getting involved with solar fuels research due to the associated high risk and long timescales. The industrial partners that could see the most benefit from investing in solar fuels research would be those who are currently involved in the relevant materials and catalysis synthesis as well as in the energy and utilities sectors.Small and medium enterprises(SMEs) and spin-off companies often play a vital role in bringing new emerging technologies from research into commercial development. In the UK such companies employ a large proportion of skilled workers and greatly enhance regional economies. It is essential that they are properly supported, and given access to as wide a branch of funding as possible, as they are much more vulnerable to market fluctuations than larger organisations.
Given the increased focus within Europe, it will be hugely beneficial for the UK to position itself strongly alongside European researchers in order to be part of large scale solar fuels programmes commissioned in Europe. In this regard, it is felt by attendees of the workshop that the lack of engagement of the EPSRC in a recent European Science Foundation(ESF) call was a significant opportunity to have missed.
Encouraging innovation in the solar fuels sector requires the transfer of knowledge and skills across the supply chain and from academia into industry. Initiatives set up by the Technology Strategy Board,such as the Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs), are intended to facilitate this transfer and it is essential that this continues to be supported. The RSC works closely with the Chemistry Innovation KTN,which acts as a link to the other KTNs and instigates connections with a wider industry base. Other organisations, for example the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3)should also be engaged as they represent industrialists and engineers.
In order to increase the awareness of solar fuels technology in the community it is important to engage with the wider bracket of national policy makers and funders. In the first instance this will include the Department of Energy and ClimateChange and Department of Business, Innovation and Skills in central government and the relevant lead technologists in the Technology Strategy Board (who could disperse information to the regions through the Regional Development Agencies).
With suitable buy-in from funding bodies, government, and industry,solar fuels has the potential to be aviable solution to a huge global challenge.
Summary
- The RSC determined solar fuels to be a clean technology that could potentially be employed to provide sustainable energy and held a workshop to scope the current position and determine how to drive development in the UK.
- This opportunity is one that is very heavily routed in fundamental chemistry, where there is currently relatively little focus from the public sector and industry in the UK.
- The RSC is well placed to provide a significant impact in driving forward work in this area.
- The RSC solar fuels workshop group would like to take steps towards raising awareness of solar fuels as a clean technology to get it on to the national energy/sustainability agendas.
- The group recommends promoting early investment, and long term funding, in both fundamental and applied research in areas relevant to solar fuels, enabling a strong UK position.

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Chemistry for Tomorrow’s World
This article is reproduced with the permission of the Royal Society of Chemistry and was originally pub- lished in RSC News – Policy Bulletin, May 2010.
Chemistry for Tomorrow’s World
This article is reproduced with the permission of the Royal Society of Chemistry and was originally pub- lished in RSC News – Policy Bulletin, May 2010.