Síntesis de semiconductores inorgánicos modificados con nanopartículas metálicas para la producción de combustibles solares

Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Doctorado en Ciencias en Ingeniería Química ; Due to stricter environmental laws and the reduction of fossil fuel reserves, energy resources will have to be replaced by renewable, sustainable, economically efficient and safe systems. Due to this situation, interest in alternative and renewable fuels for energy production has increased quickly around the world, being solar fuels a very promising alternative, since they can be used as raw material in various industrial chemical processes. Among the reactions used for the production of solar fuels, the ethanol steam reforming sticks out, which allows the use of ethanol obtained from a process of renewable origin and the photoreduction of CO2 or artificial photosynthesis, which could be a technological alternative to help to consume the total CO2 emissions and be valorized. In the present doctoral thesis, both reactions have been studied. For the ethanol steam reforming reaction, semiconductor materials based on TiO2 were studied, incorporating in two different synthesis, impregnation and direct synthesis, the mesoporous silica SBA-15 and adding metallic nanoparticles of Pt as co-catalyst, while for the CO2 photoreduction reaction, nanoparticles in the oxide phase of RuO2, MoO3, NiO and Fe2O3 were added in a simple (monometallic) or combined (bimetallic) form. The physicochemical properties of all the photocatalysts have been analyzed using various characterization techniques that allow determining the interaction between the active phase, the metallic nanoparticle and the catalytic support. ; Debido a leyes ambientales más estrictas y a la reducción de las reservas de combustibles fósiles, los recursos energéticos deberán ser reemplazados por sistemas renovables, sostenibles, económicamente eficientes y seguros. A causa de esta situación, el interés por combustibles alternativos y renovables para la producción de energía ha aumentado rápidamente alrededor del mundo, siendo los combustibles solares una alternativa muy prometedora, ya ...