Green Energy & Engineering

Specific mission

Development of highly efficient catalysts for the total oxidation of hydrocarbons; design of innovative schemes for fuel processors.
Development of highly efficient electrocatalysts for PEMFC and DMFC; 3D multiphysic modeling of PEMFC and DMFC

Main research topics

  • Catalytic combustion of light hydrocarbons (premixed catalytic fiber burners for natural gas combustion; micro-monoliths and foams for catalytic combustion).
  • Hydrogen production : short-contact-time catalytic reactors for syngas production via partial oxidation and steam/oxidative reforming; structured catalytic monolith and foam reactors for syngas clean-up (WGS, CO-PROX, CO-SMET);
  • Fuel processors design and modeling for hydrogen production starting from hydrocarbon fuels;
  • Energetic valorization of wastes.
  • PEMFC and DMFC electrocatalysts: synthesis and characterization of carbon-based materials as supports for low-Pt and non-noble electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction, methanol oxidation reaction, and hydrogen oxidation reaction.
  • PEMFC and DMFC modeling: 3D Multi-physics modeling and validation of low-temperature fuel cells.

Main partnerships

  • CNR-ITAE (Messina, Italy), Fuel processing Materials and Technologies (FPMAT) Group, Dr. Antonio Vita; Group, Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells and Electrolizers (DAFCE) Group, Dr. Vincenzo Baglio
  • CNR-ICCOM (Firenze, Italy), Dr Alessandro Lavacchi
  • Università della Calabria, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, (Rende, Italy), prof. Isabella Nicotera
  • Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Faculty of Chemistry (Krakow, Poland): Materials and Surface Chemistry (MSC) Group, Prof. Andrzej Kotarba
  • IFP – Energies Nouvelles, Department of Reactions and Modeling of Reactors (Solaize, France), Dr Jean-Francois Joly
  • Autonomous University of Madrid, Department of Applied Physical Chemistry (Madrid, Spain), Group of Electrochemistry, Prof. Pilar Ocón
  • University of Ontario, Institute of Technology, (Oshawa, Canada), Prof. E. Bradley Easton
  • Technische Universität Darmstadt (Darmstadt, Germany), Prof. Ulrike I. Kramm

Projects and publications

Reference laboratories

PhD, Post-docs and Grant researchers