Capturing and chemically converting CO2 using new photocatalytic coatings deposited by HiPIMS and ELECTROSPINNING.
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As all the main global bodies agree, we are at a decisive moment for successfully confronting the greatest challenge of our times, climate change. In that context, it is evident that any tool that lets greenhouse gasses be reduced, and especially carbon dioxide, will be of great help with combatting climate change. The GREEN-COPPER project is framed by that strategy, because its goal is to develop a new family of photovoltaic coatings made of metal oxides that can capture atmospheric carbon dioxide and convert it into chemical compounds that can be reused.
Two coating deposit technologies were worked with on the project. On one hand, HiPIMS (High Power Impluse Magnetron Sputtering), which is part of the PVD, or physical vapor deposition, group of techniques. The other technology used was electrospinning (ES), which consists of obtaining coating using electro-spinning starting with polymer solutions Additionally, the effect of combining both techniques was evaluated. The consortium of the project was made up of AIN and two different groups from the UPNA-INAMAT2 (materials science and metallurgical engineering area in the Engineering Department / Chemical Engineering Area of the Science Department).
The results obtained by the project met the goals initially set. As expected, the technical phases of optimising both simple and combined metal oxide layer deposition were completed successfully. Work was done actively with the technologies, and the characterisation results have shown that the coatings do not just meet the chemical and structural properties initially set forth, the conversion of atmospheric CO2 to obtain chemical products with value has also been shown.
As a general conclusion, the GREEN-COPPER project has made it possible to shown that using different advanced deposition techniques materials with photocatalytic properties can be obtained that can be used in a wide variety of sectors and applications. Thus, both entities believe it opens the door to further research in the specific field of similar materials, such as HEOs (high energy oxides) to which not just copper is added, but other elements that can be more ideal for use to bring value to CO2.
