Energy recovery and sustainability

We study new-concept materials - semiconductors, oxides, plasmonic - of interest in devices for energy production and storage (photovoltaic cells, solid-state batteries, photocatalytic systems). Furthermore, we analyze composite structures to evaluate the effectiveness of inorganic and hybrid devices in energy recovery.

In the field of environmental control and prevention and for sustainability purposes we adopt different innovative spectroscopic procedures and in-situ sensing, for the detection of emerging pollutants in water, soil and other materials.

We also develop first principles computational studies of energy materials, especially transition metal oxides for rechargeable batteries, and the study of light trapping capabilities and transport properties in semiconductor photovoltaic cells.

Participants: Lucio Andreani, Matteo Cococcioni, Pietro Galinetto, Franco Marabelli, Maddalena Patrini, Giovanni Pellegrini, Paolo Vitulo
Group members: Michele Zanoletti