NanoElectroMechanical Infrared Light for Industrial and Environmental Sensing

Project Information

NEMILIES

Grant agreement ID: 101058011

DOI

10.3030/101058011

Project closed

EC signature date 17 March 2022

Start date 1 June 2022

End date 31 May 2024

Funded under

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Total cost

€ 2 223 128,75

EU contribution

€ 2 223 128,00

Coordinated by

INVISIBLE-LIGHT LABS GMBH
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NEMILIES (NanoElectroMechanical Infrared Light for Industrial and Environmental Sensing)

Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2024-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In 2012, 13% of all deaths in the EU were attributable to environmental pollution, e.g. in the form of aerosols. Another major source of pollution ubiquitous in our modern society is plastics. Their long-term accumulation and fragmentation into nanoplastics, which can leach toxic, carcinogenic, or endocrine disrupting additives, is cause for increased concern. Simultaneously, more and more nanoparticles are used in drug delivery or as therapeutics. There currently exist no methods that allow for the sampling of extremely low amount of materials, such as aerosols, nanoplastics, or nanopharmaceuticals, and simultaneously provide characterization data for their identification.

Current state-of-the-art methods require environmental samples to be brought back to the laboratory, extracted from filters and further analyzed with specialized equipment and personnel or very low concentrations of samples to be analyzed for several hours in order to obtain a stable signal. The delay in obtaining an answer can have serious detrimental health, economic, and societal effects. Furthermore, the elaborate analytical procedure massively limits the amount of samples taken and mainly reduces them to spot checks only. Therefore, contaminations of various kinds are not detected at all.

But what if we could detect and identify airborne pollution and nanoparticles directly in the field, workplace, or home and in real time? What if we could identify the sources and extent of nanoplastic pollution at remote locations? What if we could speed up nanopharmaceuticals drug discovery and improve quality control? In the NEMILIES project, we applied the nanomechanical point of view to the world of optics to create a radically new nanomaterial and nanoparticle detector aclled EMILIE. EMILIE is an innovative Mid- to Far-IR (also known as THz) analyser based on unique nanoelectromechanical sensing (NEMS) technology, which allows the sampling and chemical analysis of nano-sized samples available in limited quantities. Our innovative technology fills a methodology and technology gap by bringing frontrunner ultra-sensitive characterization methods to the analysis of aerosols, nanoplastics, nanopharmaceuticals, thin films, biomolecules, and more.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Our overall goal was to successfully transitioning our ERC PoC technology out of the laboratory and into the hands of users. The initial proof-of-concept required expensive equipment and specialized knowledge and could not be easily duplicated or transported outside of our laboratory. During the NEMILIES project, a multitude of prototypes were created, artisanally and using industrialized fabrication methods. Each prototype iteration was validated in the laboratory and with selected users in various fields. Each feedback loop resulted in several major changes and improvements as well as in the development of new components and IP. The EMILIE prototypes were validated for the analysis of ultrafine aerosols, nanoplastics, thin films, proteins, nanocontaminants, and nanopharmaceuticals. In addition to EMILIE, feedback from users led us to the development of PHILL, a dedicated frequency tracking and electronics device that reduces complexity when working with EMILIE. We also developed several sampling methods for the collection of nanomaterials from air and water, as well as for the analysis of biological materials and materials. The final laboratory prototype can be hyphenated easily with a commercially available Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer for rapid chemical characterization with existing laboratory equipment without the requirement for specialized knowledge of nanomechanics, lowering the adoption barrier for this new technology.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The small size of ultrafine aerosol particles and nanoplastics facilitates their transport by air, through our waterways, and in the food chain. However, it also makes their sampling and chemical characterization extremely challenging. Even at very high number concentrations, the actual mass of nanoparticles in an environmental sample will be very small due to their extremely small volume making detection and identification challenging with traditional analytical methods. At the moment, one of the only way to characterize nanoparticles is through the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) or atomic force microscopy (AFM). However, this instrumentation is not only extremely expensive, the scanning process to analyze each nanoparticle one by one is very time-consuming. As a result, environmental nanoparticles are often characterized only by their size and particle count. New innovative technology is required to face the challenges of our modern society.
Internal validation in the laboratory and with selected users showed outstanding sensitivity for the bulk analysis of nanoparticles in the 10-500 nm size range by NEMS-FTIR with EMILIE. The EMILIE technology was extended without any modifications to the analysis of nanoparticle-based drug formulations. Nanopharmaceuticals have proven their efficacy in treating complex diseases, R&D by pharma and biotechcompanies to develop nanotech-based drugs is constantly increasing. We have successfully shown the NEMS-FTIR characterization of nanoparticle-encapsulated proteins with EMILIE in collaboration with a pharmaceutical industry partner. In addition to the analysis of nanoparticles, we have for the first time integrated thermal desorption (TD) directly with NEMS-IR. This new feature opens up the doors to an array of new possibilities where complex samples with different vapour pressures can be desorbed sequentially from the surface of the detector for easier identification and physicochemical characterisation.
These results fill a pressing methodological and technological gap in the analysis of environmental nanoparticles. However, the policy gap in terms of environmental nanoparticle regulations will hinder uptake of this new technology by both environmental monitoring services and agencies as well as by industrial polluters.

Emilie NEMS-IR and FTIR spectra of polypropylene nanoplastic spheres (54 nm average diameter)

Ultrafine aerosol NEMS-FTIR analysis with Emilie.

Operating principle of the EMILIE nanoelectromechanical sensing infrared (NEMS-IR) detector