Artificial Photosynthesis for Sustainable “Solar Fuels”

S1 E 1 - The Blue Sky Podcast

What if we could learn from the trees to make a fossil fuel alternative out of carbon dioxide and sunlight alone? We could close the loop on carbon emissions—a critical win in the battle against climate change.

That's one of the goals of Zetian Mi, professor of electrical engineering and computer science. He's also aiming to make efficient, affordable ultraviolet LEDs to sterilize drinking water in parts of the world that don't have enough today. Connecting these two technologies is an up-and-coming semiconductor called gallium nitride. Can Mi's team engineer the quantum properties so that gallium nitride lives up to its promise?

The Blue Sky Podcast is an award winning limited series from RE: Engineering Radio and the University of Michigan College of Engineering. We’re following four research projects in critically important areas of global consequence.

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