In the SPOTLIGHT project, a reactor equipped with a plasmonic catalyst to produce either methane or carbon monoxide is being developed for operation under concentrated sunlight. The SPOTLIGHT consortium will test a prototype in the solar furnace at DLR in Cologne, Germany. Here, a heliostat reflects sunlight upon a concentrator, which

Distinguishing between photothermal and non-thermal contributions is essential in plasmon catalysis. Use of a tailored optical temperature sensor based on fiber Bragg gratings enabled us to obtain an accurate temperature map of an illuminated plasmonic catalyst bed with high spatiotemporal resolution.Its importance for quantification of the photothermal and non-thermal contributions

Solar energy driven processes with H2O and CO2 as basic feedstocks can produce “solar fuels” that could substitute their fossil based counterparts. This article summarizes the main findings of a techno-economic analysis of systems that can generate different types of fuels with renewable energy as starting point. These “renewable fuels”

Plasmon catalysis is an interesting technology concept for powering chemical processes with light. Here, we report the use of various Al2O3-supported Ru spheroidal nanoparticles as catalyst for the low-temperature conversion of CO2 and H2 to CH4 (Sabatier reaction), using sunlight as energy source. At high loadings of Ru spheroidal nanoparticles