Thermochemical dissociation of CO2 into renewable fuels via CexZryHfzO2 based redox reactions using concentrated solar energy

Abstract

In this paper we report the co-precipitation synthesis of Ce0.75Zr0.125Hf0.125O2 redox material for the production of solar fuels via thermochemical H2O/CO2 splitting reaction. For the synthesis of Ce0.75Zr0.125Hf0.125O2 via co-precipitation method, Ce, Zr, and Hf metal salts were dissolved in demineralized water and aqueous NH4OH was added until the precipitation was complete. After precipitation, the slurry was filtered and the solids obtained after filtration were dried, crushed, and subsequently heated in a muffle furnace in presence of air. Calcined powders obtained were further characterized using powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and BET surface area analyzer. Solar fuel production ability and thermal stability of the synthesized Ce0.75Zr0.125Hf0.125O2 redox material was investigated by performing multiple thermochemical oxidation and thermal reduction cycles in presence of CO2 and inert Ar using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA).