GreenPerovs: Green, Efficient, and Stable Halide Perovskites for Heterogeneous Photocatalysis

能源和环境问题对欧洲和世界其他地区的所有工业部门越来越重要，因为主要能源仍然是化石燃料。我们对这些有限储量的持续依赖导致了严重的气候变化。在格拉斯哥举行的COP26峰会上，人们充分认识到了转向更可持续的能源经济的必要性。然而，化学生产在利用可再生碳作为原料方面仍然落后。欧盟委员会（EU）已经认识到迫切需要通过欧洲绿色协议取得进展，旨在到2050年使欧洲实现碳中和。为了实现这一雄心勃勃的目标，这将有助于MSCA的绿色宪章，需要在广泛的技术改进，这必须由材料创新驱动。该项目（GreenPerovs：用于多相光催化的绿色、高效和稳定的卤化物钙钛矿）将通过探索基于3D（体）和2D（二维）卤化物钙钛矿的低成本、环境友好和稳定的半导体光催化剂，为绿色和可持续的化学品和能源未来做出贡献。GreenPerovs将使用密度泛函理论（DFT）来研究材料稳定性作为组成和模拟光催化反应的函数，包括通过水分解产生H2，将CO2还原为甲醇和甲酸，以及光化学去除有机污染物。该研究将专注于开发由地球丰富的元素生产的无铅卤化物钙钛矿的新配方，这些配方有可能取代传统的光催化剂或提高常用光催化剂的效率。

Energy and environmental issues are increasingly crucial to all industry sectors across Europe and the rest of the world because the primary energy sources remain fossil fuels. Our continued dependence on these limited reserves has led to significant climate change. The need to move to a more sustainable energy economy was well perceived at the COP26 summit held in Glasgow. However, chemical production still lags in utilising renewable carbon as a feedstock. The European Commission (EU) has already recognised the urgent need for progress through the European Green Deal, aiming to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050. To achieve this ambitious goal which will contribute to the MSCA's Green Charter, improvement in a wide range of technologies is required, and this must be driven by materials innovation. The proposed project (GreenPerovs: Green, Efficient, and Stable Halide Perovskites for Heterogeneous Photocatalysis) will contribute to a green and sustainable chemicals and energy future by exploring low-cost, environmentally friendly, and stable semiconductor photocatalysts based on 3D (bulk) and 2D (two-dimensional) halide perovskites. GreenPerovs will use density functional theory (DFT) to study material stability as a function of composition and simulated photocatalysed reactions, including H2 production through water splitting, CO2 reduction to methanol and formic acid, and photochemical removal of organic pollutants. The research will focus on developing new formulations for lead-free halide perovskites produced from earth-abundant elements, which have the potential either to replace traditional photocatalysts or increase the efficiency of commonly used photocatalysts.