Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) {
    uint8_t ex;
    uint16_t ans = 0;
    int i;
    int j;
    for(i=0;i<8;i++){
        ex = val & 0x01<<i;
        if(ex) ans = ans | 0x0001<<j;
      
        //printf("%d\n",ex);
        j = j+2;
    }
    return ans;
}

int main() {
    uint8_t val;
    scanf("%hhu", &val);

    uint16_t result = spread_bits(val);
    printf("%u", result);
    return 0;
}

Solving Approach