Solar Fuels Science Meeting Set for Zoom Next Month

The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, led by Caltech in Pasadena, will be featured in the online 2020 Solar Fuels Science Meeting that’s happening via Zoom from Wednesday, Aug. 5, through Friday, Aug. 7.

The event will bring together young and established investigators from Caltech, U.S. national laboratories, and national and international universities and research centers who are at the forefront of their fields, to exchange ideas and advance the field of artificial photosynthesis.

A Caltech statement said research on artificial photosynthesis — which refers to how solar fuels are synthesized from water and carbon dioxide by harnessing sunlight as an energy source — has greatly accelerated in the past decade as seen in advanced understanding of catalytic mechanisms, rapid material discovery, development of highly integrated and efficient solar-fuels generators, as well as the development of new experimental and theoretical tools.

JCAP’s headquarters and primary laboratory facilities are at Caltech. The joint center was established in 2010 as a U.S. Department of Energy Energy Innovation Hub, aiming to find new and effective ways to produce fuels using only sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.

JCAP brings together more than 100 scientists and engineers from Caltech and its lead partner, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The program also draws on the expertise and capabilities of key partners from the University of California campuses at Irvine and San Diego, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

JCAP is the nation’s largest research program dedicated to the advancement of solar-fuels generation science and technology.

The 2020 Solar Fuels Science Meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. Aug. 5, will feature three webinars: “Renewable Hydrogen Generation – Basic Science and New Technologies,” “Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Renewable Fuels and Chemicals – Past Five Years of Accomplishments and Remaining Challenges” and “Solar Fuels – Future Science and Technology.” These webinars will be moderated by Caltech or LBNL scientists.

Aside from scientists from Caltech, LBNL and SLAC, the list of panelists in the webinars includes researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Oregon, Stanford University and the University of California, Irvine.

For more information and to register for the online event, visit https://caltech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lx1Y3LG_QNSyd1bdH560OQ.

A link to the Zoom virtual event will be provided after registration.