INSIEME
Title: Artificial intelligence approaches, innovative syntheses and economic-environmental sustainability assessment for the development of new materials for solar energy conversion and storage.
ICCOM Principal Investigator: Lorenzo Zani.
Prject Type: Regional (Tuscany Region).
Duration: 15/05/2024 – 14/05/2026
Abstract: The development of new materials and technologies for the conversion and storage of solar energy represents an indispensable strategy for achieving carbon neutrality. However, currently, the global energy landscape is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Based on these premises, the INSIEME project will attempt to apply artificial intelligence-based approaches for the automated design of new organic photosensitizers with possible use in photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical devices, capable of using solar radiation for the production of electricity and green hydrogen via water photosplitting. The application of techniques based on artificial intelligence, in combination with quantum mechanical methods, will allow the design of photosensitizers displaying optimal interaction with light radiation, which will then be prepared with innovative synthetic procedures adhering to the principles of “green chemistry”, developing eco-sustainable methods of by-products and solvents reuse from a circular economy perspective. The final objective of the project will therefore be the application of the new photosensitizers in laboratory-scale devices. The collaboration with the company LifeCARES s.r.l. will allow the economic-environmental sustainability to be assessed along all phases of project development through the use of LCC, Life Cycle Costing, and LCA, Life Cycle Assessment, methodologies, in order to identify the most promising solutions from an eco-friendly perspective.
Partnership: National Research Council of Italy (CNR); LifeCARES s.r.l.; Department of Biotechnologies, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena.
ICCOM participants: Alessio Dessì, Daniele Franchi, Carmen Coppola, Lorenzo Zani.
Financed by: Regione Toscana – Bando Assegni di Ricerca anno 2023.
Project overall budget: € 60.000.
ICCOM budget: € 60.000.
