Project period: 2024-2029
Funding: NCN Sonata Bis 13, UMO-2023/50/E/ST4/00197
PI: dr hab. Silvio Osella
The need to reduce anthropogenic amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere is nowadays one of the most urgent issues that we have to face as a global community and that we cannot delay any further. It is becoming clear that its storage cannot represent a long-term solution. On the other hand, CO2 conversion into valuable chemicals (named solar fuels) is poised to become the most promising tool to reduce noxious emissions. Together with the conversion of N2 into ammonia, one of the most valuable chemical for fertilizing industry, the formation of ethylene and ethanol from CO2 is of high significance due to their high production costs. SOLAR2VAL will implement a material-by-design approach to produce groundbreaking technologies that can perform solar to fuel reactions, by resorting only to low-dimensional materials as the constituent building blocks for light harvesting, charge transfer and transport, and heterogeneous catalysis. In this project, we will exploit these tools with the specific aim of answering the fundamental questions which are at the core of photo(electro)catalysts reduction process optimization: i) how to suppress the carrier recombination at the light-absorption site of the system; ii) how to enhance the lifetime of the separated charges, in order to reach the catalytic centre; iii) how to efficiently and selectively convert N2 and CO2 into target chemicals such as ammonia, ethylene and ethanol. The achievement of the SOLAR2VAL’s ambitious objectives will contribute to shape a future sustainable and zero-emission energy generation, enabled by advanced in green, sustainable nanotechnology.
Selected publications
coming soon ...