Project description DEENESFRITPL Revolutionising the nanoparticle catalysis process The advancement and refinement of nanoscience play a pivotal role in numerous industries and fields, offering solutions to existing problems and providing alternative options. Among these nanoscience fields, catalysis using metal nanoparticles holds significant potential for yielding substantial benefits, especially given the increasing demand for fuel, environmental remediation and climate change-related drugs. The ERC-funded NANOREACTOR project aims to drive innovation by pushing the boundaries of nanoparticle catalysis. To achieve this goal, the project will employ thermosensitive yolk-shell carrier systems, thereby enhancing the catalytic process with improved control and efficiency. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The catalysis by metal nanoparticles is one of the fastest growing areas in nanoscience due to our society's exploding need for fuels, drugs, and environmental remediation. However, the optimal control of catalytic activity and selectivity remains one of the grand challenges in the 21st century.Here, I propose to theoretically derive design rules for the optimization of nanoparticle catalysis by means of thermosensitive yolk-shell carrier systems. In the latter, the nanoparticle is stabilized in solution by an encapsulating, thermosensitive hydrogel shell. The physicochemical properties of this polymeric 'nanogate' react to stimuli in the environment and thus permit the reactant transport and the diffusion-controlled part of the catalytic reaction to be switched and tuned, e.g. by the temperature or the pH. The novel hybrid character of these emerging 'nanoreactors' opens up unprecedented ways for the control of nanocatalysis due to new designable degrees of freedom.The complex mechanisms behind stimuli-responsive nanocatalysis call for a concerted, interdisciplinary modelling approach that has converged in my group in the recent years. In particular, it can only be achieved by combining my expertise in multiscale computer simulations of solvated polymers with the statistical and continuum mechanics of soft matter structures and dynamics. The key challenge is to integrate the molecular solvation effects and our growing knowledge of hydrogel mechanics and thermodynamics into advanced reaction-diffusion equations for a quantitative rate prediction. In addition, I envision exciting novel phenomena such as a chemo-mechanical 'self-regulated catalysis' or an amplifying 'resonant catalysis', if hydrogel response and fluctuations couple to the chemical output signal.The expected results and design principles will help our collaborators to synthesize tailor-made, superior nanocatalysts and will advance our understanding of their structure-reactivity relationship. Fields of science natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicssoft matter physicsnatural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciencesnatural scienceschemical sciencescatalysisengineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialsnatural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsmathematical model Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-CoG-2014 - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2014-CoG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution ALBERT-LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITAET FREIBURG Net EU contribution € 558 437,50 Address FAHNENBERGPLATZ 79098 Freiburg Germany See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 558 437,50 Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all ALBERT-LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITAET FREIBURG Germany Net EU contribution € 558 437,50 Address FAHNENBERGPLATZ 79098 Freiburg See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 558 437,50 HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM BERLIN FUR MATERIALIEN UND ENERGIE GMBH Germany Net EU contribution € 1 429 062,50 Address HAHN MEITNER PLATZ 1 14109 Berlin See on map Region Berlin Berlin Berlin Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 429 062,50
