Publications related to Sustainable living

Fungal mycelia: From innovative materials to promising products: Insights and challenges

In transitioning toward a sustainable economy, mycelial materials are recognized for their adaptability, biocompatibility, and eco-friendliness. This paper updates the exploration of mycelial materials, defining their scope and emphasizing the need for pre ...

Aip Publishing2024

Development of Sustainable Carbohydrate-Based Solvents by Acetal Functionalisation of Biomass

Anastasiia Komarova

Organic solvents are ubiquitous in industrial and domestic applications from the production of pharmaceuticals to household consumer products. The negative impact of most traditional solvents, especially aprotic types, on the environment, health, and safet ...

EPFL2024

Stability and degradation of (oxy)nitride photocatalysts for solar water splitting

Sophia Haussener, Franky Esteban Bedoya Lora

Advancing towards alternative technologies for the sustainable production of hydrogen is a necessity for the successful integration of this potentially green fuel in the future. Photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting are promising concepts ...

2024

Sustainable Materials: Production Methods and End-of-life Strategies

Jeremy Luterbacher, Florent Emmanuel Héroguel, Arpa Ghosh, Raymond Gérard Buser

All three natural polymers of biomass and the monomer platforms derived from them present multiple avenues to develop products from specialty to bulk markets, which could serve as entry points into the industry for bio-based sustainable materials. However, ...

Swiss Chemical Soc2023

Sinter-Resistant Nickel Catalyst for Lignin Hydrogenolysis Achieved by Liquid Phase Atomic Layer Deposition of Alumina

Jeremy Luterbacher, Songlan Sun, Farzaneh Talebkeikhah

Lignin hydrogenolysis is a key step in the sustainable production of renewable bio-based chemicals and fuels. Heterogeneous metal catalysts have led to high yields but they rapidly deactivate, notably due to nanoparticle sintering and carbonaceous deposit ...

2023

GeSn as next-generation material for short-wave infrared single-photon detection

Andrea Giunto

In recent years, the automotive industry has aspired to bring self-driving vehicles to the general public and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors have emerged as the preferred solution for car vision systems. At present, LiDAR technologies employ e ...

EPFL2023

Resistances to change in urban travel behaviors

Marc-Edouard Baptiste Grégoire Schultheiss

The social discourse surrounding the climate emergency progressively infuses the society, transforming into both micro- and macro-social injunctions to change. Yet, society - grounded in a territorial, social, and cultural contingency - appears to resist t ...

EPFL2023

Process modeling and integration of hydrogen and synthetic natural gas production in a kraft pulp mill via black liquor gasification

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

The black liquor gasification integrated to chemical plants has shown potential for reducing the process irreversibility and promoting the decarbonization of this industrial sector. In the integrated chemical plants proposed in this work, the purpose is co ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023

Ni-Based Nanoparticles Catalyzed Hydrodeoxygenation of Ketones, Ethers, and Phenols to (Cyclo) Aliphatic Compounds

Paul Joseph Dyson, Mingyang Liu, Xiang Li, Yelin Hu, Matthias Beller

Catalytic hydrodeoxygenation is of prime importance in the valorization of biomass-based feedstocks to produce essential chemicals and fuels. To carry out this process in a more cost-effective and sustainable manner, the use of 3D-metal-based nanostructure ...

Amer Chemical Soc2023

From concrete waste to walls: An investigation of reclamation and digital technologies for new load-bearing structures

Corentin Jean Dominique Fivet, Stefana Parascho, Maxence Grangeot

The research presented in this paper highlights current practices for the end-of-life of concrete and explores opportunities in using unaltered concrete rubbles from demolition for the digital construction of structural walls. Through research by iterative ...

2023

Direct conversion of lignin to functionalized diaryl ethers via oxidative cross-coupling

Paul Joseph Dyson, Mingyang Liu

Efficient valorization of lignin, a sustainable source of functionalized aromatic products, would reduce dependence on fossil-derived feedstocks. Oxidative depolymerization is frequently applied to lignin to generate phenolic mono- mers. However, due to th ...

Nature Research2023

2022 roadmap on low temperature electrochemical CO2 reduction

Sophia Haussener, Raffaella Buonsanti, Etienne Boutin, Ludmilla Steier, Xiaoyan Wang, Ming Ma, Xuan Liu

Electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2R) is an attractive option for storing renewable electricity and for the sustainable production of valuable chemicals and fuels. In this roadmap, we review recent progress in fundamental understanding, catalyst development ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2022

Biological nanopores for single-molecule sensing

Matteo Dal Peraro, Chan Cao, Simon Finn Mayer

Evolution has found countless ways to transport material across cells and cellular compartments separated by membranes. Protein assemblies are the cornerstone for the formation of channels and pores that enable this regulated passage of molecules in and ou ...

2022

Strategic factors to design the next generation of molecular water oxidation catalysts: Lesson learned from ruthenium complexes

Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin

Energy conversion through sustainable means is essential to counter global warming and an urgent solution through a multidisciplinary approach is required. The temperature change stems from the emission of greenhouse gases largely contributed by burning fo ...

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA2022

Drivers and Barriers Toward Healthy and Environmentally Sustainable Eating in Switzerland: Linking Impacts to Intentions and Practices

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Ivo Philippe Baur, Ralph Hansmann

Food consumption is among the activities with the most significant environmental impacts, and furthermore contributes to rising health costs. We explored the factors that foster or hinder healthy and sustainable eating in Switzerland. Based on an online ho ...

2022

"An experimental investigation of a roof-mounted horizontal-axis wind turbine in an idealized urban environment"

Fernando Porté Agel, Arslan Salim Dar, Guillem Armengol Barcos

Dar, Arslan Salim, Guillem Armengol Barcos, and Fernando Porté-Agel. "An experimental investigation of a roof-mounted horizontal-axis wind turbine in an idealized urban environment." Renewable Energy (2022). ...

Zenodo2022

Pre-bcc: A novel integrated machine learning framework for predicting mechanical and durability properties of blended cement concrete

Hisham Tarek Mohamed Hafez

Partially replacing ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with low-carbon supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in blended cement concrete (BCC) is perceived as the most promising route for sustainable concrete production. Despite having a lower environment ...

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2022

Recycling of Load-Bearing 3D Printable Double Network Granular Hydrogels

Esther Amstad, Matteo Hirsch, Alvaro Lino Boris Charlet, Sanjay Phileas Schreiber

Sustainable materials, such as recyclable polymers, become increasingly important as they are often environmentally friendlier than their one-time-use counterparts. In parallel, the trend toward more customized products demands for fast prototyping methods ...

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH2022

A long-term study on structural changes in calcium aluminate silicate hydrates

Christian Ludwig, Barbara Lothenbach, Sonya Barzgar, Yu Yan, Mohamed Tarik

Production of blended cements in which Portland cement is combined with supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) is an effective strategy for reducing the CO2 emissions during cement manufacturing and achieving sustainable concrete production. However, t ...

SPRINGER2022

Journal of Physics : Conference Series, CISBAT 2021 Carbon-neutral cities - energy efficiency and renewables in the digital era

CISBAT 2021 took place from 8 to 10 September 2021 online and at the Swiss Tech Convention Center on the campus of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland under the heading "Carbon Neutral Buildings - Energy Efficiency & Renewabl ...

IOP2021