Continued development of active, selective, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly materials and catalytic processes is essential for our
sustainable future, as heterogeneous catalysis is at the center of the chemical and energy industry efforts for the conversion of raw materials into valueadded products. Solar-driven photocatalysis is eco-friendly and has great potential for the further development of unconventional sustainable and economic catalytic processes.
Among semiconductors, halide perovskites have many fascinating tunable physical and chemical properties. Although they may have unique features and great potential as catalysts on the atomic and nanoscales, they are under-explored in heterogeneous catalysis. This project will seize this opportunity and set in force an innovative research program toward the development of nanostructured halide perovskites and their utilization in solar energy harvesting through photocatalysis.

In the CHOSEN-CAT project, my team will conduct a pioneering study to design and develop distinctive tailor-made nanostructured halide perovskite structures in various forms – including nanocrystals, single-atom supported, and grafted molecule-mimicking morphologies. With support from top-level theoretical calculations and predictions, and using precise bottom-up synthetic methodologies, we will prepare a range of novel nanostructured halide perovskites with tunable composition, band structure, acidity, morphology, porosity, and textural parameters, and investigate their photocatalytic functionalities.

These studies will provide a deep understanding of how structural factors influence photocatalytic properties of halide perovskites in challenging highgain and technically relevant catalytic transformation reactions. Ultimately, this project should deliver a breakthrough in the preparation and catalytic utilization of halide perovskites for coupling of CO2 reduction and phenol oxidation for diphenyl carbonate synthesis and photochemical plastic recycling by focusing depolymerization of polyurethane.