Researchers pave the way for solar fuels from CO₂

The study shows how certain materials, known as semiconductors, can be made more efficient in systems that directly convert solar energy into chemical energy. By better understanding and improving these materials, the team succeeded in making them both more durable and more powerful. They discovered how the energy within the materials interacts with the electrodes, how charges move across the system, and what factors affect long-term stability. The researchers also found that adding special catalysts further boosts performance and extends the lifetime of the systems.

This progress brings us closer to a future where CO₂—today one of the biggest drivers of climate change—can be reused as a raw material for fuel production. In the short term, the research delivers new knowledge that will support the development of clean, affordable energy technologies. In the long term, these systems could evolve into decentralized units that produce solar fuels, contributing to energy independence, green innovation, and achieving climate targets.

“Our findings show that it is possible to build solar fuel systems with abundant, environmentally friendly materials that are both efficient and sustainable,” says Beatriz de la Fuente. “This is a crucial step in turning CO₂ from a problem into a valuable resource.”

With this research, VUB confirms its leading role in sustainable and innovative energy technologies.

This collaboration was made possible thanks to funding support from the Research Foundation ​ Flanders (FWO) and it was conducted within a highly collaborative academic–industrial ecosystem. It forms part of SYNCAT (SYNergetic Design of CATalytic Materials for Integrated Photoand Electrochemical CO₂ Conversion Processes), a multi-university project supported by the Flemish Moonshot Initiative (Strategic Basic Research for Clusters), funded by VLAIO.

Reference:

Beatriz de la Fuente, Daniely Reis Santos, Irene Dei Tos, Bart Ruttens, Jan D’Haen, Sudhanshu Shukla, Bart Vermang, Juliet Risner-Jamtgaard, Annick Hubin, and Tom Hauffman (2025) Probing the Electronic Band Structure of Emerging Chalcogenide Absorbers for Photoelectrochemistry. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 129 (44), 20015-20024 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5c05834