UNC To Launch Solar Fuel Research Center
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been awarded a grant expected to be valued at $17.5 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Energy and President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for an innovative interdisciplinary research center to develop solar fuels from next-generation photovoltaic technology.
The UNC initiative is one of 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) being funded at U.S. universities and research institutions to accelerate scientific breakthroughs for advanced energy technology development, the White House announced Monday (April 27) in conjunction with a speech by President Obama at the National Academy of Sciences. The UNC center is the only EFRC funded in North Carolina and one of 16 that received Recovery Act funds for job creation.
The UNC effort, directed by Thomas J. Meyer, Ph.D., Arey Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, will involve collaborations with more than 20 faculty in the departments of chemistry and physics and astronomy at UNC, as well as scientists at N.C. State, N.C. Central and Duke universities, as well as the University of Florida.
“What a great moment for Carolina: a shining example of our collaborative culture; an area of keen interest and deep expertise in our faculty; an effort of intense international interest and importance; and all pulled together by our own Tom Meyer, one of Carolina’s great visionaries, who built his entire career as a scientist and leader here in Chapel Hill,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp.
Said Meyer, “This is great news for UNC and for North Carolina. It will enable us to become national and international leaders in what may be the most important endeavor of our time, creating a sustainable energy future.”
The UNC center will engage in research on low-cost and efficient solar fuels production by artificial photosynthesis and producing electricity by next-generation photovoltaics. The center will support a mix of about 30 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students.
Solar fuels could use the sun’s energy to make fuels from water and carbon dioxide for heating, transportation and energy storage. Next-generation photovoltaics could generate electricity by inexpensive “solar shingles” on the roofs of buildings.
The UNC center’s activities will also be integrated with those of the Research Triangle Energy Consortium (RTEC), a research consortium among UNC, Duke, N.C. State and the Research Triangle Institute.
Besides Meyer, other lead investigators on the project from UNC are Drs. John Papanikolas, associate professor; Edward Samulski, Distinguished Professor; and Wenbin Lin, professor and joint adjunct professor, all in the department of chemistry.
EFRC researchers will take advantage of new capabilities in nanotechnology, high-intensity light sources, neutron scattering sources, supercomputing and other advanced instrumentation – much of it developed with Department of Energy’s Office of Science support over the past decade – to lay the scientific groundwork for fundamental advances in solar energy, biofuels, transportation, energy efficiency, electricity storage and transmission, clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration, and nuclear energy.
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