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Strengthening collaboration with Vietnam on solar fuels


​​​​​​​​​On January 10, 2024, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and the Franco-Vietnamese Hanoi University of Science and Technology (USTH) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), extending a fruitful collaboration established in the field of chemical energy conversion and storage, particularly around solar fuels​.

Published on 5 February 2024
For almost 15 years, CEA-Irig's Department for the Interface for Energy, Health and Environment (DIESE), headed by Vincent Artero, and USTH's Key Laboratory on chemical energy storage and conversion, headed by Tran Dinh Phong, have been collaborating in the field of new energy technologies. This alliance has led to major joint achievements, such as the development in 2022 of an artificial leaf capable of converting solar energy into hydrogen with an efficiency of 2%.

The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding extends the collaboration between the two institutions, and testifies to their desire to strengthen student exchanges and diversify areas of collaborative research.

These include the production of solar and e-fuels, which is at the heart of CEA's Circular Carbon Economy (CCE) program. To contribute to this, the CEA's Fundamental Research Division is exploring thermo-catalysis, photoelectrocatalysis, biological and bio-inspired pathways. This ground-breaking research will enable the emergence of technologies for converting solar energy into molecules of interest, using reaction mechanisms that are efficient, economical and sustainable.


CEA-Irig's Department for the Interface for Energy, Health and Environment ​(DIESE) comprises the Chemistry and Biology of Metals Laboratory (LCBM director Vincent Artero) and the Molecular Systems and NanoMaterials for Energy and Health Laboratory (SyMMES director Pascale Delangle).
The University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) is a Franco-Vietnamese higher education institution located in Hanoi, Vietnam, created in 2009 under the intergovernmental agreement between Vietnam and France. ​

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