NEW ORGANIC DYES AS HIGHLY REDUCING PHOTOCATLAYSTS

One of the biggest challenges of the XXI centaury is mitigation of climate change catastrophe by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases such as CO2 emitted into the atmosphere and eliminating pollutants from environment. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as DDT and their degradation is another process of extreme importance, as even low concentrations of such compounds can cause serious health and developmental problems in wildlife and humans. However, already established degradation processes often require expensive and scarce noble metal catalysts that furthermore contribute to environmental pollution.

These difficulties can be tackled by developing green processes driven by visible-light energy. As most of solar energy, an abundant, renewable, and inexhaustible source of energy - lies within the visible light region, search for new photoactive materials is a crucial task. Although significant progress has been made over the years, areas of highly challenging transformation such as POPs degradation or carbon dioxide reduction remain underexplored. Harmful substances, such as DDT, TCDD, and others, pose significant threats to wildlife and human health. These compounds, characterised by their long half-lives and resistance to natural degradation, persist in the environment, accumulate in organisms, and contribute to a myriad of ecological problems. To combat this issue, we can use specially designed catalysts, which can break down these pollutants into harmless by products using light to drive reactions forward, paving the way for a greener future.

Photocatalytic activation of organic molecules is an attractive alternative to these classical methods, as it allows reactions under very mild conditions using the greenest source of energy, visible light. However, the pool of photocatalysts available that can drive these processes is very narrow, limited almost exclusively to organic dyes that absorb highly energetic ultraviolet (UV) irradiation.

In our quest for sustainable solutions to combat global warming and environmental pollution, the search for innovative catalytic methods is pivotal. Thus, the goal of the project is to design new organic dyes, which can catalyse the described process more efficiently and selectively using solar power. Apart sfrom its scientific value, the methodologies developed in the project can potentially be applied on an industrial scale as a greener and more sustainable alternatives to existing processes.