Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FUNLAYERS (Twinning on Functional Layered Materials for Advanced Applications)
Période du rapport: 2023-01-01 au 2025-12-31
FUNLAYERS is a Horizon Europe Twinning project that strengthens research excellence in layered materials by bringing together the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (Portugal) with the ALBA Synchrotron (Spain) and the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (Germany).
The project enhanced scientific capacity through joint research activities, advanced training, researcher mobility, and access to leading research infrastructures in areas such as spintronics and energy storage. In parallel, it reinforced research management practices and long-term collaboration mechanisms.
By increasing international networking and institutional capacity, FUNLAYERS contributes to reducing the research and innovation gap within Europe and supports the development of sustainable, next-generation materials technologies.
The project enhanced scientific capacity through joint research activities, advanced training, researcher mobility, and access to leading research infrastructures in areas such as spintronics and energy storage. In parallel, it reinforced research management practices and long-term collaboration mechanisms.
By increasing international networking and institutional capacity, FUNLAYERS contributes to reducing the research and innovation gap within Europe and supports the development of sustainable, next-generation materials technologies.
FUNLAYERS implemented five specific objectives to strengthen research excellence in layered materials.
First, it promoted an interdisciplinary research environment through mobility actions (secondments and short visits), seminars and colloquia, hands-on workshops, summer schools and hackathons, fostering structured knowledge exchange between INL, ALBA-CELLS and MPI.
Second, it enhanced INL’s scientific and research management capacity through a comprehensive diagnosis of institutional strengths and gaps, leading to the development and implementation of a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), complemented by transferable skills training and research management workshops.
Third, the consortium carried out collaborative research on advanced layered materials, achieving the synthesis and characterisation of multiple material systems, developing new energy-related layered materials, and fabricating proof-of-concept devices for spin transport studies.
Fourth, the project strengthened international visibility and strategic networking through scientific dissemination, stakeholder engagement and high-level events.
Finally, FUNLAYERS established sustainability mechanisms to support long-term collaboration, joint proposal development and continued excellence beyond the project duration.
First, it promoted an interdisciplinary research environment through mobility actions (secondments and short visits), seminars and colloquia, hands-on workshops, summer schools and hackathons, fostering structured knowledge exchange between INL, ALBA-CELLS and MPI.
Second, it enhanced INL’s scientific and research management capacity through a comprehensive diagnosis of institutional strengths and gaps, leading to the development and implementation of a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), complemented by transferable skills training and research management workshops.
Third, the consortium carried out collaborative research on advanced layered materials, achieving the synthesis and characterisation of multiple material systems, developing new energy-related layered materials, and fabricating proof-of-concept devices for spin transport studies.
Fourth, the project strengthened international visibility and strategic networking through scientific dissemination, stakeholder engagement and high-level events.
Finally, FUNLAYERS established sustainability mechanisms to support long-term collaboration, joint proposal development and continued excellence beyond the project duration.
The consortium demonstrated, for the first time, the fabrication of one-dimensional CrI₃ single-wall nanotubes encapsulated within multi-wall carbon nanotubes. While CrI₃ is a landmark two-dimensional ferromagnetic material, FUNLAYERS extended it to a novel one-dimensional architecture. The structural, chemical and magnetic characterisation revealed magnetic behaviour distinct from its 2D counterpart, providing experimental evidence of the role of dimensionality in magnetic order. This work opens the way to a new class of van der Waals hybrid heterostructures combining magnetic insulators with conductive nanostructures at the nanoscale.
In parallel, the project developed a fluorine-free synthesis route for Ti₃C2 MXene using iodine-assisted etching, avoiding hazardous HF-based methods. The resulting MXenes showed improved stability and suitability for energy applications, including successful functionalisation with iridium for electrocatalytic systems. This approach advances safer and more sustainable fabrication strategies for high-performance energy materials.
In parallel, the project developed a fluorine-free synthesis route for Ti₃C2 MXene using iodine-assisted etching, avoiding hazardous HF-based methods. The resulting MXenes showed improved stability and suitability for energy applications, including successful functionalisation with iridium for electrocatalytic systems. This approach advances safer and more sustainable fabrication strategies for high-performance energy materials.