> The researchers used new, high-efficiency electronics developed by Juan Rivas-Davila, an associate professor of electrical engineering and co-author on the paper, to produce the currents they required.
> They then used those currents to inductively heat a three-dimensional lattice made of a poorly conducting ceramic material in the core of their reactor.
> The lattice structure is just as important as the material itself, Fan said, because the lattice voids artificially lower the electrical conductivity even further.
> And those voids can be filled with catalysts – the materials that need to be heated to initiate chemical reactions.
> This makes for even more efficient heat transfer and means the electrified reactor can be much smaller than traditional fossil fuel reactors.
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> The researchers used new, high-efficiency electronics developed by Juan Rivas-Davila, an associate professor of electrical engineering and co-author on the paper, to produce the currents they required.
> They then used those currents to inductively heat a three-dimensional lattice made of a poorly conducting ceramic material in the core of their reactor.
> The lattice structure is just as important as the material itself, Fan said, because the lattice voids artificially lower the electrical conductivity even further.
> And those voids can be filled with catalysts – the materials that need to be heated to initiate chemical reactions.
> This makes for even more efficient heat transfer and means the electrified reactor can be much smaller than traditional fossil fuel reactors.