Between September 19 and October 3, the Operando Spectroscopy Laboratory, headed by Prof. M. Mihaylov, at the Geo Milev campus of the Center of Excellence “Mechatronics and Clean Technologies,” hosted a research visit by Virginia Guiotto, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Torino, Italy. During her stay, she worked together with the Bulgarian team on studying the structure of CO₂ adsorbed on newly developed metal–organic frameworks from Torino.
The purpose of the visit was to apply the method of isotopic linkage isomerism (link)recently developed by the Bulgarian team, which enables precise identification of how CO₂ binds to the active sites in the material. This binding mode is crucial for the adsorption capacity and the energetic characteristics of the process – and thus for the potential application of these materials in CO₂ capture and storage.
The results obtained are clear and promising, and the visit lays the foundation for future collaboration between the groups of Prof. S. Bordiga (Italy) and Prof. K. Hadjiivanov (Bulgaria).