Project description
Shining a new light on solar energy
The production of solar energy helps us reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and thus mitigate global warming by lowering the emission of greenhouse gases. The EU-funded CONDOR project is addressing both of these challenges. It will develop a modular device for the production of fuels by using water and CO2 as feedstock and sunlight as the only energy source. The proposed modular approach will allow for different configurations depending on the target product. The oxidation process is not limited to O2 production, it entails chlorine and small organic molecules, such as 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid. Employed materials will be obtained from earth abundant chemical elements through low-energy/low-temperature routes.
Objective
Conversion of sunlight into fuels and mitigation of anthropogenic climate change are big scientific challenges. CONDOR addresses both of them by developing highly efficient solar-driven conversion of CO2 into fuels and added-value chemicals. We propose a photosynthetic device made of two compartments (a) a photoelectrochemical cell that splits water and CO2 and generates oxygen and syngas, a mixture of H2 and CO; (b) a (photo)reactor that converts syngas into methanol and dimethylether (DME), via bi-functional heterogeneous catalysts. The proposed modular approach enables different configurations depending on the target product. The oxidation process is not limited to O2 production, but entails chlorine and small organic molecules, such as 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, derived from the oxidation of low-cost and easily available precursors like salt water or alcohol derived biomass, respectively. Employed materials will be obtained through low energy/low temperature routes, mainly based on wet chemical procedures, such as sol-gel chemistry, mild hydrothermal processes, electrochemical processes at ambient temperature. Raw materials/precursors will not be limited by availability on a global scale, making use of organic species, silicon, earth abundant metal oxides, first row transition metals. The final target is a full photosynthetic device with 8% solar-to-syngas and 6% solar-to-DME efficiencies with three-months continuous outdoor operation. This represents a large progress with respect to the state of the art and requires an international collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach, which integrates expertise in nanomaterials preparation and characterisation by operando microscopy and spectroscopy, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, photochemistry/photoelectrochemistry, PEC engineering and assessment of the environmental and socio-economic impact of the proposed technology, including life cycle assessment.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compounds
- natural scienceschemical scienceselectrochemistryelectrolysis
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryalcohols
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materials
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
40126 Bologna
Italy