Current issues in materials engineering

Venue: Seminar Room, h. 10:00, Polo F.Ferrari 2 – via Sommarive 9 - Trento

Vlastimil Matějka, Department of Chemistry - Technical University of Ostrava Czech Republic

Several kinds of the by-products and the waste materials are being produced during the steel manufacturing. Metallurgical slags, dusts, sludge belong are typical examples of the by-products originating during the steel production process. Although several efforts have been made for the re-utilization of these materials, part of them is still disposed in the landfills.

The objectives of the project “Smart metallurgical waste management”, which is focused on the increasing utilization of these materials, will be outlined within the first part of the presentation.

The second part of the seminar is dedicated to photocatalytic materials, intensively studied for applications oriented to the degradation of the harmful substances occurring in the natural environment. Undoubtedly the most studied photocatalyst is still titanium dioxide. Recently, graphitic carbon nitride has attracted the attention for its photocatalytic properties, mainly due to the fact that its photoactivity is shifted towards the VIS region. The combination of these photocatalysts with clay minerals or other nanostructured materials might improve the photodegradation activity and widen the application potential. The composites based on TiO2 or g-C3N4 photocatalysts combined with the clay minerals.