Renewable energy technologies are gaining attentions due to the problem of the fossil fuels consumption. The oxygen reduction reaction is a key reaction in electrochemical technologies of proton exchange membrane fuel cells and metal-air batteries, which are aimed to reduce the use of fossil fuels, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring highly efficient energy conversion.
The challenge of ECLIPTIC is the synergistically combination of environmental electrocatalysis and sustainable inorganic chemistry with advanced techniques for in-operando study and DFT calculations. We plan to gain significant progress in the design, preparation and in the determination of the structural and electronic properties of PGM-free catalysts, supported on porous carbonaceous substrates, also obtained from pyrolytic treated biomasses.
A ground-breaking approach will be developed to rationally synthetize catalysts in complete green and circular chemistry model. The different and complementary expertise of the three partner institutions can ensure a strongly interdisciplinary network and an optimal coverage of the whole methodological value chain: synthesis, characterization, catalytic testing and computational support.