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ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
The group carries out studies aimed at understanding the main processes and mechanisms that define the chemistry of the water, air and soil compartments. Particular attention is paid to the role that sunlight has as a forcing of environmental processes both in the aqueous phase (with particular attention to the photoinduced self-purification processes of water), and in the atmosphere. Moreover, the role that human activities have in disrupting environmental equilibrium is studied.
Several research requires the development of analytical methods for sample pretreatment and the determination of organic and inorganic contaminants in environmental and food matrices using advanced analytical techniques. Activities also include the synthesis and application of ceramic components and bio-based supports with hierarchical porosity for hybrid adsorption/photodegradation processes in wastewater treatment, optimization of protocols for microplastics extraction and identification, determination of hexavalent chromium in different matrices (soils, sediments, waters, cosmetics), and development of analytical methods for micropollutants in wastes, biomasses, and wastewaters within a circular economy framework, supported by advanced statistical and chemometric tools (e.g., experimental design and PCA).
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING OF POLLUTANTS
The environmental monitoring represents one of the pillars of our research group and the main related activities can be summarised as
Determination of pollutants in a wide range of matrices (air, water, ice, soil, vegetables,...)
Analysis, management and sampling of permanent or highly volatile gaseous species
Qualitative and quantitative characterization of the content of inorganic species (also in trace) in real matrices
TECHNOLOGIES, INNOVATIVE MATERIALS AND PROCESSES
In our group a significant part of the reasearch is dedicated to the developing and test of innovative materials exploitable in advanced oxidative processes (e.g., the processes of heterogeneous photocatalysis on semiconductors) for the removal of pollutants both in aqueous compartments (industrial or civil wastewater), and in the atmosphere (reduction of gaseous pollutants). Developing active, selective, and energy efficient heterogeneous catalytic processes is the key to a sustainable future and this is the reason why heterogeneous catalysis is at the center of the chemicals and energy industries. The design, testing, and implementation of robust and selective heterogeneous catalytic processes based on insights from fundamental studies is of crucial importance.
At the same time other green processes can be developed in CEA group. Among them, hydrogen generation and carbon dioxide reduction are interesting in the clean fuel field. Hydrogen is an ideal fuel from many perspectives. Indeed, it is not toxic, its resources are abundant and it is a "clean" fuel as it produces no emissions (for example, when used in a fuel cell) and it can also be produced from renewable resources. The CO2 capture (storage and/or reuse) and its transformation, perhaps within a single production cycle as a fuel or a fine chemical product, is one of the essential and necessary actions to reduce the CO2 environmental concentration, thus mitigating the increase in temperature projected for the forthcoming decades. It is also a low-cost starting point for the generation of fuels that respond to the requirement of "carbon neutrality".
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