Progetti di ricerca

According to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), part of the Next Generation European Union (NGEU) financial program, the EU aims at accomplishing relevant advancements in the direction of a green revolution, reaching an increment in both technological sustainability… Leggi tutto and energetic independence. In this context, photo(electro)chemistry (PEC) is one of the most promising and appealing solar-driven technologies to accomplish the direct photochemical conversion of CO2 (major greenhouse gas from anthropogenic pollutions) into valuable chemicals by performing reduction reactions at the surface of properly functionalized electrodes, in hybrid systems based on light-absorbing semiconductors. The possibility of applying photoactive nanomaterials in PEC strongly depends on their ability to absorb a large portion of the solar spectrum, ensuring an efficient charge separation and interfacial transfer of the photoproduced charge carriers. The more traditional approach requires the continuous modification of tailored materials able to properly guide the reaction selectivity. The recent literature, instead, suggests the possibility of applying different external stimuli, including magnetic field (MF), to overcome some drawback still unsolved, such as detrimental charge recombination. This novel (and poorly studied) approach is extremely promising, especially considering the possibility of modifying electrodes with magnetic nanoparticles to generate a specific magnetic response to MF. To the best of our knowledge, there are only few recent studies describing this possible alternative route, thus fundamental research is needed to understand the basic mechanisms involved in this very specific configuration. Therefore, the main goal of this Project is to unveil potential MF assistance in improving the overall activity of properly designed electrodes to be employed in solar-driven CO2 reduction. In particular, MF-induced variations on efficiency and/or selectivity of this reaction will be investigated as a function of i) the external permanent magnet position and intensity; ii) the possible local MF directly generated by ferrites systems integrated in well consolidated CuxO-TiO2 coupled oxides; iii) the interaction between magnetic responsive ferrites-based component and an externally applied MF. To address the main aims of this Project we set up a relatively young and multidisciplinary consortium made up of scientists with expertise in the synthesis and characterization of photocatalytic materials (Project PI, M.V. Dozzi, UniMi), in the preparation of magnetic inorganic nanomaterials (R. Nisticò, UniMiB), as well as in the advanced characterizations (M.C. Paganini, UniTo), and industrial application of photo(electro)active materials (C. Genovese, UniMe).

The pandemic crisis, the numerous public demonstrations in support of climate and ecological justice, and the recent energetic crisis have pointed out the actual importance of reaching a rapid and complete ecological transition towards technological sustainability and energetic independence. Even… Leggi tutto if it is well known that the quality of life of the global population is strictly related with the degree of accessibility to energy sources, this simple assumption hides behind itself several issues and criticalities, one above all the correlation existing between the remarkable ecological implications caused by traditional fossil fuels extraction, motions and consumption (with emission of greenhouse gasses, GHG, in the atmosphere) for providing energy, and the increment in soils, water, and air pollution at the basis of the serious climate change that is affecting our planet. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), part of the Next Generation EU financial program, aims at accomplishing relevant scientific and technological advancements in the direction of the green revolution and ecological transition. In this context, photo(electro)chemistry is a very promising and appealing technology able to accomplish the conversion of renewable sources into fuels for energy applications in a greener way. Hence, photo(electro)catalyzed processes involving the CO2 (the major GHG from air pollution) reduction into valuable C2+ products (CO2RR), and hydrogen evolution (HER) from water splitting are among the major promising chemical routes for energy production, alternatives to the traditional fossil fuels. The possibility of exploiting these routes to produce energy at large scale is still strongly affected by the selection of both promising catalysts and suitable process parameters, thus fundamental research is needed to fully understand the driving factors that allow these technologies to be fully exploitable. The PERFECT project aims at investigating in depth the photo(electro)-induced catalytic activities of Cu-containing compounds in CO2RR and HER, by monitoring how changes at the catalyst and process parameters level might enhance the yield of conversion and selectivity of the final products. This approach requires a preliminary survey of the different catalysts (Milestone 1), a deep investigation of possible morphological effects (Milestone 2), and the investigation of possible effects induced by process parameters (Milestone 3). This way, important technological guidelines useful for addressing the still unsolved technological demands in terms of the efficient design of both catalyst and process will be provided. Hence, to realize the project aims, we set up a relatively young and multidisciplinary consortium made up of scientists with expertise in the synthesis of catalytic materials (Project PI, R. Nisticò, UNIMIB), their application in photo(electro)catalysis (M.V. Dozzi, UNIMI), and advanced characterizations (L. Mino, UNITO).