{"id":375,"date":"2026-02-23T07:54:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/?p=375"},"modified":"2026-02-23T07:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:54:33","slug":"chinese-scientists-build-first-low-power-superconducting-space-thruster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/2026\/02\/23\/chinese-scientists-build-first-low-power-superconducting-space-thruster\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Scientists Build First Low-Power Superconducting Space Thruster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inside a vacuum chamber in Hefei, China, a thread of glowing plasma hangs in space. Argon gas feeds into the device at five milligrams per second \u2014 barely a trickle. Electromagnetic forces tear the gas apart into ions and electrons, then hurl it backward at extraordinary speed. The thrust produced is, on its face, modest: about 320 millinewtons, roughly the weight of a small apple resting in your palm. But the efficiency with which that thrust is generated is another matter entirely.<\/p>\n

Spacecraft propulsion has always involved an awkward trade-off. Chemical rockets are powerful but profligate: burn kerosene and liquid oxygen, accelerate combustion products out the nozzle, and you produce impressive thrust. You also, in the process, consume enormous quantities of propellant. More than 90 per cent of a rocket’s launch mass is typically fuel. The rest \u2014 the satellite, the science instruments, the actual mission \u2014 rides along almost as an afterthought. Electric propulsion sidesteps this by using electrical energy to accelerate propellant rather than chemical energy. The technique is far more frugal. The same mission can be accomplished with a fraction of the fuel. The downside is that electric propulsion generates comparatively gentle thrust; you don’t launch off Earth’s surface with an ion engine. You use it once you’re already in space, running continuously, building velocity gradually over months or years.<\/p>\n

The metric that matters here is specific impulse \u2014 effectively a measure of fuel efficiency, analogous to miles per gallon. Chemical rockets achieve specific impulses of around 300 to 450 seconds. The better electric propulsion systems, Hall thrusters and gridded ion drives, reach 3,000 to 3,500 seconds. The device tested by Jinxing Zheng and colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei achieved 3,265 seconds. At 12 kilowatts of input power, with argon propellant flowing at just five milligrams per second.<\/p>\n

That number on its own isn’t the breakthrough. What makes it significant is the hardware that produced it.<\/p>\n

Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, or MPDTs, have been around conceptually since the 1960s. They work by running large electrical currents through plasma in the presence of powerful magnetic fields, generating Lorentz forces that accelerate the plasma to very high exhaust velocities. In theory, the specific impulse ceiling for the best MPDTs is around 11,000 seconds \u2014 well beyond anything else practically achievable. In practice, the technology has been stuck. The problem, at its core, is the magnet.<\/p>\n

A conventional copper electromagnetic coil capable of generating the field strengths useful for plasma acceleration is heavy and power-hungry to a degree that strains credulity. The University of Stuttgart’s SX3 thruster prototype offers a representative example: the thruster itself weighs 13 kilograms, but the copper electromagnet it requires adds another 150 kilograms and consumes 285 kilowatts of power. A large solar array covering 100 square metres provides perhaps 56 kilowatts at Earth orbit under ideal conditions. Powering such a magnet would require at least two such arrays. The mass and space requirements alone make it essentially incompatible with a small satellite.<\/p>\n

Superconducting magnets offer a way around this. A superconductor carries current without electrical resistance \u2014 no resistance means no Joule heating, which means the magnet consumes trivial power to maintain its field. Earlier attempts used low-temperature superconductors, which work but require cooling to near absolute zero, around 4 kelvin, using liquid helium. That demands a cryogenic system of its own, adding back much of the mass and complexity that superconductivity was supposed to remove.<\/p>\n

The YBCO ceramic \u2014 yttrium barium copper oxide, a material discovered in the 1980s and still one of the more remarkable substances in condensed matter physics \u2014 remains superconducting up to 93 kelvin. In practice that means it can be maintained in its superconducting state using a much simpler cooling system, a small Stirling-cycle refrigerator rather than a cryostat full of liquid helium. In the Hefei device, four cryocoolers brought the magnet down to operating temperature over about seven hours. Once cold, it held there stably.<\/p>\n

The result is a complete magnet system \u2014 HTS coils, cooling hardware, structural support \u2014 that weighs 60 kilograms and draws less than one kilowatt of electrical power during operation. Against the 285-kilowatt, 150-to-220-kilogram copper alternative, that difference is transformative for small satellite design.<\/p>\n

The Hefei team wound their magnet from commercially produced YBCO tape, the same material that’s increasingly being used in advanced MRI machines and fusion reactor coils. Four double-pancake coils, each wound with two layers of 160 turns, generate a central magnetic field of 0.2 tesla \u2014 enough to usefully confine and accelerate plasma, as the experiments confirmed. An important engineering detail: the system operates with a safety margin of more than 50 per cent below the tape’s critical current, and the stability margin exceeds 1,000 millijoules per cubic centimetre, roughly an order of magnitude higher than comparable low-temperature superconducting systems. The HTS tapes are expensive and sensitive; thermal runaway (quench) would damage them badly. The system is designed to never get close.<\/p>\n

Alongside the hardware, the team developed a magnetohydrodynamic model of plasma acceleration inside the thruster’s magnetic nozzle \u2014 the diverging field region where plasma expands and exhausts. The model, based on the MHD equations coupling Maxwell’s laws with the Navier-Stokes equations, makes quantitative predictions of how thrust varies with magnetic field strength and mass flow rate. Experimental results from Langmuir probe measurements and direct thrust measurements validated those predictions reasonably well, particularly at low flow rates and higher field strengths. The physics emerging from the analysis identified the “swirl” component of thrust \u2014 plasma rotating azimuthally before being redirected axially \u2014 as the dominant contribution at the low mass flow rates relevant to small satellites.<\/p>\n

What the system hasn’t yet done is fly. The paper describes ground-based testing in a vacuum chamber, and the team frames the 12-kilowatt result as groundwork for eventual in-orbit demonstration. The efficiency at 25 per cent is respectable but not exceptional; earlier superconducting MPDTs operating at much higher power (150 kilowatts) have achieved efficiencies approaching 76 per cent. The Hefei device is optimised for a different constraint: not maximum raw performance, but maximum performance per kilogram of spacecraft bus, at power levels compatible with the solar arrays a small satellite can actually carry.<\/p>\n

The missions that would benefit most are the ones currently constrained by propulsion options. CubeSats and small satellites have transformed access to orbit over the past decade, partly because launch costs have fallen and partly because electronics have shrunk. Constellations of hundreds or thousands of small spacecraft are now practical. What’s harder is keeping them in precisely controlled orbits, raising or lowering them efficiently, or sending any of them substantially beyond low Earth orbit. The electric propulsion options available at small satellite power budgets are mostly Hall thrusters and gridded ion systems, which top out at specific impulses around 3,000 to 3,500 seconds. An HTS MPDT delivering 3,265 seconds at 12 kilowatts, in a package light enough to integrate into a small satellite, covers similar ground \u2014 while leaving open the theoretical possibility of scaling to 11,000 seconds as the technology matures.<\/p>\n

There’s a broader trajectory visible here. The same YBCO materials that make this thruster possible are simultaneously enabling compact superconducting magnets for clinical MRI, high-field laboratory instruments, and the tokamak designs at the core of several fusion energy programmes. The manufacturing base for HTS tape has expanded substantially over the past decade, which means costs have fallen and availability has improved. Aerospace components that required exotic custom fabrication a decade ago can now be assembled from commercial off-the-shelf superconducting wire.<\/p>\n

The plasma in the Hefei vacuum chamber doesn’t know any of this, of course. It doesn’t know it’s the first to be accelerated by a fully integrated high-temperature superconducting magnetoplasmadynamic thruster operating below 15 kilowatts. It knows only the magnetic field, the current, the pressure gradient \u2014 and then it’s gone, exhausted backward through the nozzle at exhaust velocities a chemical rocket could never match, from a system light enough to fit on a spacecraft small enough to launch for the cost of a used car.<\/p>\n

Study link: https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/nsr\/article\/13\/2\/nwaf589\/8407247<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inside a vacuum chamber in Hefei, China, a thread of glowing plasma hangs in space. Argon gas feeds into the device at five milligrams per second \u2014 barely a trickle. Electromagnetic forces tear the gas apart into ions and electrons, then hurl it backward at extraordinary speed. The thrust produced is, on its face, modest: … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1299,"featured_media":376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,9,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-physics-mathematics","category-space","category-technology","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"yoast_head":"\nChinese Scientists Build First Low-Power Superconducting Space Thruster - SciChi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/2026\/02\/23\/chinese-scientists-build-first-low-power-superconducting-space-thruster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chinese Scientists Build First Low-Power Superconducting Space Thruster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Inside a vacuum chamber in Hefei, China, a thread of glowing plasma hangs in space. 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Argon gas feeds into the device at five milligrams per second \u2014 barely a trickle. Electromagnetic forces tear the gas apart into ions and electrons, then hurl it backward at extraordinary speed. The thrust produced is, on its face, modest: ... 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It isn't gripping. Not actively, anyway. When a bat lands inverted, its body weight pulls down on tendons running through the legs, and those tendons tighten the toes around whatever surface\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life & Nonhumans"","block_context":{"text":"Life & Nonhumans","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/category\/life-nonhumans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perching behavior of biological and artificial systems.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/drone-with-talons.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/drone-with-talons.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/drone-with-talons.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/drone-with-talons.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":378,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/2026\/02\/27\/biochar-can-curb-or-boost-greenhouse-gas-depending-on-soil\/","url_meta":{"origin":375,"position":1},"title":"Biochar Can Curb or Boost Greenhouse Gas Depending on Soil","author":"SciChi","date":"February 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Two adjacent fields in Jiangxi Province, China, grow different crops \u2014 one peanuts, one rice. The soils beneath them look similar enough: both acidic, both fertilised at similar rates, both collected from the same shallow depth. Mix biochar into either of them and you'd expect a broadly similar result. You'd\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/category\/environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Chinese rice paddy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/02\/pexels-quang-nguyen-vinh-222549-2131921.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/02\/pexels-quang-nguyen-vinh-222549-2131921.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/02\/pexels-quang-nguyen-vinh-222549-2131921.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/02\/pexels-quang-nguyen-vinh-222549-2131921.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":180,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/2025\/06\/03\/super-earth-found-in-habitable-zone-using-new-method\/","url_meta":{"origin":375,"position":2},"title":"Super-Earth Found in Habitable Zone Using New Method","author":"SciChi","date":"June 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Astronomers have discovered a super-Earth planet ten times more massive than our world orbiting within the habitable zone of a Sun-like star, using an innovative detection technique that could revolutionize the search for \"Earth 2.0.\" The planet, designated Kepler-725c, represents the first super-Earth found in a habitable zone using transit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Space"","block_context":{"text":"Space","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/category\/space\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Astronomers have discovered a super-Earth planet ten times more massive than our world orbiting within the habitable zone of a Sun-like star, using an innovative detection technique that could revolutionize the search for \"Earth 2.0.\" The planet, designated Kepler-725c, represents the first super-Earth found in a habitable zone using transit timing variations\u2014a method that tracked tiny changes in another planet's orbit to reveal the hidden world. This technique opens new possibilities for finding potentially habitable planets that traditional methods might miss, particularly around Sun-like stars where Earth-sized worlds could support liquid water. A Hidden World Revealed by Gravitational Tugs The discovery emerged from careful analysis of Kepler-725b, a gas giant planet that researchers noticed wasn't keeping perfect time in its orbit. These subtle timing variations, lasting about 10 minutes, revealed the gravitational influence of an unseen companion. Located 758 light-years away, Kepler-725c completes one orbit every 207.5 days and receives roughly 1.4 times the solar radiation that Earth does. While this might seem too hot for life, the planet spends part of its eccentric orbit within the habitable zone where liquid water could theoretically exist on its surface. What makes this discovery particularly intriguing is that Kepler-725c represents a unique planetary arrangement. It's the only known low-mass planet within a habitable zone that orbits outside a gas giant\u2014a configuration that raises fascinating questions about how such systems form and evolve. The TTV Technique: A New Window on Hidden Worlds Traditional planet-hunting methods face significant limitations when searching for Earth-like worlds around Sun-like stars. The transit method requires planets to cross directly in front of their stars from our perspective\u2014a rare geometric alignment. Meanwhile, the radial velocity technique struggles with the faint signals produced by small, distant planets. The Transit Timing Variation (TTV) technique sidesteps these problems entirely. Instead of looking for planets directly, it measures how known planets deviate from clockwork precision in their orbits due to gravitational interactions with unseen companions. \"Unlike the transit and RV methods, the TTV technique does not require the planet's orbit to be edge-on or rely on high-precision RV measurements of the host star,\" the research team explained. \"This makes the TTV technique particularly well-suited for detecting small, long-period, non-transiting habitable planets that are otherwise difficult to discover using these other two methods.\" A Perfect Storm of Detection Conditions The Kepler-725 system provided ideal conditions for this discovery. The inner gas giant planet, Kepler-725b, orbits every 39.64 days in what researchers determined to be a 1:5 resonance with the outer super-Earth\u2014meaning Kepler-725b completes five orbits for every one completed by Kepler-725c. This orbital resonance amplifies the gravitational interactions between the planets, creating detectable timing variations that might otherwise be too subtle to measure. The researchers analyzed data spanning about 1,470 days from the Kepler Space Telescope, tracking 21 individual transits to build their timing model. The discovery required sophisticated mathematical modeling to distinguish the true planetary signal from other potential causes of timing variations. The team tested both two-planet and three-planet scenarios, ultimately concluding that a single hidden super-Earth provided the best explanation for the observed data. Implications for Planetary Formation The research reveals important details about how planetary systems develop that weren't included in initial announcements. The study suggests two possible formation pathways for the Kepler-725 system, both involving dramatic early evolution. In one scenario, the super-Earth formed after the gas giant, with both planets initially orbiting much farther from their star before migrating inward. The gas giant may have acted as a \"dynamical barrier,\" preventing smaller planetary embryos from spiraling into the star and allowing them to accumulate in the outer regions. Alternatively, the system may have originally contained multiple small planets closer to the star. Gravitational interactions with the gas giant could have destabilized these inner worlds, scattering them into new orbits or ejecting them entirely from the system. A New Era of Planet Detection The success with Kepler-725c demonstrates that TTV analysis can detect Earth-sized worlds in habitable zones that remain invisible to other techniques. This capability becomes especially important for Sun-like stars, where stellar activity and instrumental limitations make traditional methods less effective. The research team identified specific conditions where TTV detection becomes particularly powerful. When inner gas giants orbit in resonance with outer terrestrial planets, the timing variations can become enormous\u2014potentially lasting days rather than minutes. However, these large variations create a double-edged sword. While they make hidden planets easier to detect through timing analysis, they also severely distort the transit signals of any outer planets that might cross in front of their stars, making them harder to find through traditional transit surveys. Future Missions and Earth 2.0 The timing couldn't be better for this discovery. Several upcoming space missions are specifically designed to search for Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars, including the European PLATO mission and China's \"Earth 2.0\" mission. These missions will monitor thousands of stars with the precision needed to detect subtle timing variations. The TTV technique could prove especially valuable for finding planets that don't transit from our perspective\u2014a significant limitation of current surveys. \"Based on the results of this study, once the European PLATO mission and Chinese ET ('Earth 2.0') mission are operational, the TTV method is expected to greatly enhance the ability to detect a second Earth,\" the researchers noted. Is Kepler-725c Habitable? While Kepler-725c orbits within its star's habitable zone, its potential for supporting life remains an open question. With ten times Earth's mass, it likely represents a \"super-Earth\" or \"mini-Neptune\"\u2014planetary types that don't exist in our solar system. The planet's estimated surface temperature of about 268 Kelvin (roughly -5\u00b0C or 23\u00b0F) assumes an Earth-like atmosphere and reflectivity. However, if Kepler-725c possesses a thick hydrogen atmosphere like a mini-Neptune, it might experience a runaway greenhouse effect that prevents surface liquid water. Alternatively, the planet could represent a \"Hycean world\"\u2014a new category of potentially habitable planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres and vast oceans. These exotic worlds could support life under conditions very different from Earth. The discovery of Kepler-725c marks a significant milestone in the search for worlds beyond our solar system. By demonstrating the power of gravitational detective work, astronomers have added a powerful new tool to their planet-hunting arsenal\u2014one that could finally help answer whether Earth-like worlds are common or rare in our galaxy. \u00a0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/hidden-planet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/hidden-planet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/hidden-planet.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":195,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/2025\/06\/12\/scientists-turn-co2-into-fuel-using-hot-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":375,"position":3},"title":"Scientists Turn CO2 Into Fuel Using Hot Water","author":"SciChi","date":"June 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Chinese researchers have achieved complete conversion of carbon dioxide into methane using an inexpensive catalyst in hot water\u2014a process that mimics natural geological phenomena. The team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University developed a honeycomb-structured catalyst made from common metals that transforms 100% of CO2 into methane, a valuable fuel that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life & Nonhumans"","block_context":{"text":"Life & Nonhumans","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/category\/life-nonhumans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"CO2 conversion diagram","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/40820_2025_1711_Fig1_HTML-1.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/40820_2025_1711_Fig1_HTML-1.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/40820_2025_1711_Fig1_HTML-1.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":198,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/2025\/06\/20\/bacteria-turn-steel-waste-into-carbon-capturing-cement\/","url_meta":{"origin":375,"position":4},"title":"Bacteria Turn Steel Waste Into Carbon-Capturing Cement","author":"SciChi","date":"June 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Chinese researchers have developed a microbial system that transforms steel industry waste into useful construction materials while simultaneously capturing carbon dioxide from cement plant emissions. The technology addresses two major environmental challenges with a single biological solution. The study, published in Engineering, demonstrates how bacteria can accelerate the conversion of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/category\/environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cement powder","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/Energetically_Modified_Cement_EMC_Lulea_Sweden_08_2020.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/Energetically_Modified_Cement_EMC_Lulea_Sweden_08_2020.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/Energetically_Modified_Cement_EMC_Lulea_Sweden_08_2020.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2025\/06\/Energetically_Modified_Cement_EMC_Lulea_Sweden_08_2020.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":426,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/2026\/04\/09\/the-single-device-that-can-both-generate-and-store-clean-energy\/","url_meta":{"origin":375,"position":5},"title":"The Single Device That Can Both Generate and Store Clean Energy","author":"SciChi","date":"April 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Key Takeaways Solid oxide cells can generate electricity or produce hydrogen, offering versatility for clean energy transitions. A new review links solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysis cells, emphasizing a unified approach in research and application. Key challenges include high operating temperatures and material degradation, which hinder commercialization and reliability.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/category\/environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Whole-chain framework of solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/solid-oxide-fuel.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/solid-oxide-fuel.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/solid-oxide-fuel.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/solid-oxide-fuel.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":377,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions\/377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/sciencechina\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}