Project title:
Project acronym: NANO_CARBON
Project number: UMO- 2021/43/P/ST5/01729
Principal investigator: Ph.D. Xiao Zhang
Scientific supervisor: Katarzyna Matras-Postołek, Prof., Ph.D., DSc.
Obtained funds: 1 081 228 PLN
Funding source: co-funded by the National Science Centre and the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement
Project duration:
Start day: 10-2022
End day: 10-2024
Project location: Cracow University of Technology, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Warszawska St. 24, 31-155 Krakow, Poland
Team:
M.Sc. Eng. Alicja Szymska-Szymanik
Katarzyna Matras-Postołek, Prof., Ph.D., DSc.
Short description of the project:
Ever increasing in global energy demand, excess use of fossil fuels and associated environment issues involving emission of greenhouse gases (e.g., CO2) are serious challenges facing the society today. Developing advanced catalysts that assist renewable energy (e.g., hydrogen, valuable carbon-based fuels) conversion from a variety of intermittent energy sources (including solar energy) for continuous power supply related applications helps sorting out effective ways in solving energy crisis and supporting environmental protection. Investigation on solar-responsive carbon-based catalyst for various energy conversion reactions has become a hot topic recent years.
Among the various carbon-based materials exploited, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4, a metal-free photocatalyst with a bandgap of around 2.7 eV that is widely applied in visible-light-driven catalysis related applications) based composite materials has been receiving extensive attention. And among the various methodologies exploited, surface and structural engineering (including heterostructure construction) has become one compelling and feasible approach in enhancing photo- and electro-catalytic performances of the g-C3N4 based composite materials.
The objective of this project is to generate fundamental knowledge on construction of highly efficient and low-cost photo-/electro-catalysts with simplified synthesis steps for practical applications. Noble metal (e.g., Pt, Au, Cu) clusters are expected to be incorporated into the g-C3N4 system via control on polymerization processes. Homogeneous distribution of these metal clusters in the g-C3N4 nanosheets system is expected to be one of the key factors that can result in drastic increase in photo-/electro-catalytic activities of the composite material, leading to improved charge carrier separation and transport efficiency. Tungsten oxide and transition metal dichalcogenides (e.g., MoS2, SnS2, WS2) with the ability of expanding light response range of the composite material, are expected to be immobilized onto the metal clusters modified g-C3N4 to construct heterostructures attaining improved photo-electro-catalytic activities. Detailed formation and catalytic reaction mechanisms as well as photo-/electro-catalytic performances (involving CO2 photoreduction, hydrogen evolution, benzene oxidation) of these heterostructures (e.g., type II, Z-scheme, S-scheme heterostructure) are expected to be exploited, particularly, the magnetic and photoelectrochemical properties of the Cu clusters modified g-C3N4 composites will be systematically investigated for the first time. These novel catalyst technologies that aims to enhance energy conversion efficiency and to reduce greenhouse emission, can be key in renewable carbon-neutral fuel production and supporting environmental protection, particularly in achieving the Green Deal objectives.
Publications:
Engineering/master’s thesis carried out as part of the Polonez Bis 1 project:
