Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

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

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) {
    uint16_t a = 0;
    for(int i=0;i<8;i++)
    {
        int k = val&(1<<i);
        if(k!=0)
        {
            a = a|(1<<i*2);
        }
        else
        {
             a = a|(0<<i*2);
        }
    }
    return a;
}

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

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

Solving Approach