Project description
Shining a light on single atom-based nanohybrid photocatalysts
Single atom-based nanohybrid photocatalysts can effectively harness light energy to drive chemical reactions for the production of clean energy sources. The EU-funded SAN4Fuel project will create a collaborative research partnership to study this process for green fuels. Specifically, the Czech Palacký University Olomouc and the VSB Technical University of Ostrava will receive expertise, infrastructure, knowledge and best practices from the German Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Italian University of Trieste. The focus will be on incorporating transition metal single atoms into photocatalysts to increase their activity for photocatalytic water splitting and CO2 reduction. The aim is to significantly improve the research groups’ scientific profile and competitiveness in European grants.
Objective
The aim of this Twinning proposal entitled ‘Single Atom-Based Nanohybrid Photocatalysts for Green Fuels’ (SAN4Fuel) is to establish excellent collaborative research partnership that will link together two world-renowned research groups—Prof. Schmuki’s from the German Friedrich–Alexander University Erlangen (FAU) and Prof. Fornasiero’s from the Italian University of Trieste (UNITS)— with a research team from the Czech Palacky University Olomouc (UPOL), led by Dr. Kment, representing the Widening Country applicant, and another Czech outstanding group from VSB – Technical University of Ostrava (VSB), led by Prof. Zboril. Although the UPOL team has achieved a number of highly valuable scientific results, particularly in the field of hybrid nanostructures for photocatalysis, it still lags behind the most prestigious research teams in the area of sustainable and green energy. In this regard, it has been shown that incorporation of transition metals co-catalysts in the form of single atoms (SAa) into photocatalysts remarkably increases their activity. However, the UPOL teams lacks this necessary expertise, which represents one of the biggest breakthroughs in the field of CO2—free sustainable energy. By contrast, the FAU, UNITS, and VSB teams are considered leaders in the field of SA-based photocatalysts, exploiting semiconductors and carbon based materials. Moreover, VSB possesses the most powerful supercomputer in Europe, which will bring insight into the still unknown properties of SAs embedded in photoactive supports and the mechanistic phenomena related to two target reactions such as photocatalytic water splitting and CO2 reduction. FAU, UNITS and VSB’s expertise, infrastructure, knowledge, and best practice will be fully shared with UPOL to significantly enhance its scientific profile, attractiveness for other talented researchers, and competitiveness in the area of European grants.
Fields of science
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysisphotocatalysis
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssemiconductivity
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcomputer hardwaresupercomputers
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support ActionsCoordinator
771 47 Olomouc
Czechia