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The NETPEC Project

NETPEC stands for “Negative Emission Technologies based on PhotoElectroChemical Methods” and is a collaborative research project funded by the BMFTR. The overall goal of the NETPEC project is the development of highly efficient photoelectrochemical approaches to convert carbon dioxide into easily storable, safe and sustainable carbon sink products. This is accompanied by climate modeling, geological reservoir investigations and sustainability analysis, thus making the NETPEC project follow a holistic approach.

The NETPEC consortium is coordinated by the University of Tübingen and it is furthermore embedded in the BMFTR research program on land based CO2 removal (CDRterra).

All contributing researchers and institutions are listed here and the tab “Project” contains more detailed information about the project and its different parts.

Principle of terrestrial photoelectrochemical carbon sinks. Atmospheric CO₂ is captured into an electrolyte and converted to carbon-rich products in a cell using directly absorbed solar radiation. While some products (e.g., oxalate) may require postprocessing, others could be directly extracted for long-term storage (e.g., carbon flakes). The local climatic environment impacts the efficiency and conversion rate of the system, the storage potential depends on the product due to potential geochemical interactions between storage site and sink product.
(https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202103801)

News

May 13, 2026

CDR Workshop at the University of Tübingen: Interdisciplinary Perspectives of CO₂-removal.
February 2, 2026

NETPEC2 – Kickoff Meeting in Tübingen (02.-03. of February).
December 4, 2025

CDRTerra expert discussion with Matthias May on December 9th
November 1, 2025

The second project phase of NETPEC (NETPEC-II) has started
January 31, 2025

The article by Aya Mohamed et al. ,”CO2 Reduction on Liquid GaInSn-Metal: Dynamics of the Electrode–Electrolyte Interface”, has been published: https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.202401740.
January 15, 2025

Earth system modeling paper by Moritz Adam et al. is now published in Environmental Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ada971. The paper explores potential impacts of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestration on the Earth system for a number of scenarios. Indirect climate and carbon cycle effects are minimal but high conversion efficiencies crucial to avoid land conversions.
November 28, 2024

Daniel Lörchs work on the mechanism of electrochemical CO2 reduction at liquid metal surfaces has appeared in JPCC! https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.4c05482
October 30, 2024

The preprint of Moritz Adams work with the title “Land conversions not climate effects are the dominant consequence of sun-driven CO2 capture, conversion, and sequestration” is now available on EarthArXiv, doi: 10.31223/X5N713
August 26, 2024

The preprint by Daniel Lörch on the mechanism of electrochemical CO2 reduction at liquid metal surfaces is now online on chemarxiv, doi:10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-1t2ss
April 8, 2024

The paper of Florian Keller “Exploring the Mechanism of the Electrochemical Polymerization of CO2 to Hard Carbon over CeO2(110)” has been published in J. Phys. Chem. C, doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c08356