CA25132 - MXene-Based Catalysts for Sustainability Chemical Challenges (MXeneCatSus)

The European society’s wellness is currently at stake, having to confront enormous sustainability challenges, including harnessing renewable energy sources without compromising the environment, fighting climate change, and fertilizing crops to sustain its growing population. At the core of each of these challenges lies a current chemical technology limitation, from H₂ generation and its economy, to CO₂ capture/conversion to close the C-cycle, and the obtaining of N-based fertilizers from green H₂ and energy. Reaching these advances requires the development of highly active, selective, stable, and cost-effective catalysts with large surface areas.

The current bottleneck is the lack of candidate catalyst materials using Earth-abundant elements. Towards this end, the MXeneCatSus COST Action proposes MXenes —few-layered two-dimensional materials— to be engineered for these purposes, with favourable reported results in thermo-, electro-, and photocatalysis. While the European scientific community has made significant contributions to these advances, the collaboration and knowledge exchange between its independent groups have been limited. This underlines the need to strengthen and expand the collaborative network, particularly by fostering the research and training opportunities for young scientists.

The ultimate aim of the MXeneCatSus COST Action is thus to establish an organized, functional European network of scientists capable of delivering MXene-based catalyst solutions for the aforementioned European challenges, through the combined efforts of theoretical and experimental researchers, key for making breakthrough advances in the field, aiming at a long-term implementation connecting suppliers and end-users, and with the potential for an immeasurable impact on Europe’s economy and societal well-being.