Carbon dioxide annual emission in the atmoshere is continously growing by at least 70 years reaching the amount of 37,12 billions metric tons in 2021. Dramatically reducing current greenhouse gas emissions is essential and urgent to slow global warming in order to avoid irreversible effect on the life of the planet. There are several ways to capture CO2 from power or industrial plants. Adsorption, membrane separation, cryogenic separation and reaction with organic amines have been proposed to reduce the amount of emitted CO2 in the atmosphere. It is generally accepted that adsorption is a promising method to remove CO2 because it is cost effective. Activated carbons are suitable candidates for CO2 capture, but the have low loading capacities at low pressure and relatively high temperature. In the recent years we discovered that cyclodextrin (natural starch derivative) nanosponges can host a relevant amount of CO2 stronger than activated carbon even at relatively high temperature and atmospheric pressure. We would like to investigate more in depth this adsorption in order to optimize the new material coming from renewable sources to capture CO2 and favour its utilization expecially in the production of carbonates or its use as a growth stimulator for selected plant species.

The candidate should have an expertise in polymer chemistry with particular regard to the synthesis of cross-linked biopolymers and their characterization.

The professor Trotta's research team is composed by 1 senior assistant professor (RTDB) and 2 junior assistant professors (RTDA) beside 1 Ph.D student and 3 Post doc students. The group has internationally recognized expertise in the field of naturally derived nanosponges (248 articles, 8315 citations, h-index 52 for T.F.). The department of Chemistry is fully equipped for the polymer syntheses and characterization. The Department of Chemistry at Unito is recognized as departement of excellence 2023-2027