Reasearch objectives

The goal of the ENLIGHTENING project is the design and realization of fully-organic photoactive polymeric materials for the heterogeneous degradation of hazardous pollutants in aqueous environments, in which a visible light-absorbing component supported on a polymeric structure triggers the photoreactivity towards specific substances determining their decomposition. 

To achieve this target, three different Research Units (RUs) will work in close collaboration by taking into account their respective expertise, their complementary competences and by identifying clear objectives. 

In a first stage of the project, the synthesis and characterisation of the photoactive materials, the polymeric support and their combination will be considered, followed by the evaluation of the performance of the so-obtained new materials in the degradation of model compounds and its comparison with the free components. 

Following its optimisation, in a second stage the new photoactive materials will be tested for their reactivity towards environmentally deleterious substrates – such as glyphosate and its derivative AMPA – to carefully assess analytically the capabilities and performance of such engineered photoactive materials in relevant real-life applications.