Elisa Moretti

Elisa Moretti (EM) is an Associate Professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy. She holds a Bachelor’s & Master’s degree in industrial chemistry (cum laude), a Master’s degree in restoration of frescoes, wall paintings and stone materials (full marks) and a PhD degree in Chemical Sciences. Then she moved to the University of Malaga (Spain) for a post-doctoral experience.

She is leading a multidisciplinary team focused primarily on the development of 0-2D advanced ceramics with tunable size, morphology, porosity, and crystalline phases, for environmental and energy-related applications (e.g. photocatalysis and electrocatalysis for H₂ production, drugs photodegradation for water remediation, water desalination).

EM is co-author of more than 80 scientific papers with high IF, several patents, more than 150 communications and more than 30 keynote/invited talks at the most important international conferences in the field.

Since 2023 EM is Chair-holder of a UNESCO Chair on Technologies and Materials for Green and Energy Applications (AID4GEA).

She has been visiting scholar/professor at several universities/research centers (China, Sweden, Spain).

EM has a strong and consolidated expertise in leading industrial research project with small, medium, and large industrial partners, having several industrial projects funded in the last years.

EM is the founder and scientific supervisor of the Spinoff ChEERS – Circular Economy for Energy Recycling Solutions, working on a sustainable upcycling and valorization of industrial and agri-food wastes to facilitate the lab-to-fab transition of innovative processing and ceramic materials. For the innovative concepts pursued since its creation, ChEERS was awarded in 2021 the National Innovation Business Award ANGI (category “Energy & Environment”).

ABSTRACT

Nanomaterials by Design: Tailored Morphology for Today’s Energy and Environmental Challenges

Nowadays, one of the main technological challenges that we are facing is the ability to provide a sustainable supply of clean energy and, among all renewable sources, solar energy displays the greatest potential. Recently, the development of novel synthetic strategies has led to the preparation of nanostructured materials displaying unique properties compared to the bulk counterpart systems, with controlled and tunable morphologies able to enhance the activity and selectivity of a catalytic process. In particular, nanostructured materials synthesized via the bottom–up approach present an opportunity for future generation manufacturing of devices.

This talk will focus on the importance of tuning the morphological features of a catalyst as a strategy to the photocatalytic activity, focusing on how rationally designing inorganic materials at the nanoscale can lead to morphologies and structures suitable to enhance the catalytic performance of industrially and environmentally important processes. The talk will discuss some energy and environmental applications that can be addressed by multi-component oxide systems synthesized via the bottom–up approach , highlighting their structure-reactivity relationship. Photocatalytic H₂ production and purification and drugs degradation will be presented as a successful case history.