Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ACCORDs (Green deal inspired correlative imaging-based characterization for safety profiling of 2D materials)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30
The general objective of ACCORDs is to develop a reliable and practical imaging-based characterization framework for the holistic correlative assessment of 2D nanomaterials belonging to Graphene Family Materials (GFMs), both as produced and within complex environmental matrices. This initiative aims to support the safe and sustainable utilization of these materials, contributing to the advancement of digital and emerging technologies for competitiveness and alignment with the Green Deal. The project addresses the topic: “Graphene: Europe in the lead.”
The ACCORDs project will provide user guidance, develop new imaging-based characterization methods, establish reference in vitro tests, create new reference 2D NMs, offer a reporting guideline for FAIR data sharing, and compile an atlas of reference images for GFM safety diagnostics.
Furthermore, the integration of social sciences and humanities (SSH) within the project is pivotal. These disciplines will provide critical insights into the societal impacts, ethical considerations, and public perceptions of new and advanced materials. By addressing these aspects, the project aims to ensure that the development and deployment of these materials are socially responsible and aligned with broader societal values and needs. This interdisciplinary approach will help bridge the gap between technological innovation and societal expectations, promoting a more inclusive and sustainable future.
ACCORDs outcomes will align with the recent EU Commission’s Standardisation Strategy (February 2022), which seeks to enhance the EU’s global competitiveness and expand business opportunities. The ACCORDs safety profiling framework is harmonized with the JRC SSbD framework, facilitating informed decision-making throughout the innovation process to ensure safer and more sustainable chemicals and materials across their life cycles.
The ACCORDs project will provide user guidance, develop new imaging-based characterization methods, establish reference in vitro tests, create new reference 2D NMs, offer a reporting guideline for FAIR data sharing, and compile an atlas of reference images for GFM safety diagnostics.
Furthermore, the integration of social sciences and humanities (SSH) within the project is pivotal. These disciplines will provide critical insights into the societal impacts, ethical considerations, and public perceptions of new and advanced materials. By addressing these aspects, the project aims to ensure that the development and deployment of these materials are socially responsible and aligned with broader societal values and needs. This interdisciplinary approach will help bridge the gap between technological innovation and societal expectations, promoting a more inclusive and sustainable future.
ACCORDs outcomes will align with the recent EU Commission’s Standardisation Strategy (February 2022), which seeks to enhance the EU’s global competitiveness and expand business opportunities. The ACCORDs safety profiling framework is harmonized with the JRC SSbD framework, facilitating informed decision-making throughout the innovation process to ensure safer and more sustainable chemicals and materials across their life cycles.
Up to month 18, laboratory work primarily focused on the first three work packages (WP1-3). In WP1, over 30 graphene-family materials were synthesized under controlled laboratory conditions. Work in WP3 involved the characterization of commercially produced and functionalized graphene-family materials (GFMs).In WP2 we applied advanced high-resolution, correlative imaging-based methods to characterize and quantify GFMs, defining various characteristics of 2D materials in line with the SSbD framework.
We evaluated the applicability of multiple characterization techniques, including SEM, TEM, TEM-EDX, XRD, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, DLS, Zeta potential measurements, UV-vis spectroscopy, and PSD, which provided critical insights into the physicochemical parameters essential for graphene commercialization, ensuring material quality, property tailoring, safety assessment, optimization, performance, reliability, market acceptance, and competitiveness. Additionally, we assessed two biological characterization methods: circular dichroism (for measuring enzyme AChE and secondary structure) and enzyme (AChE) activity/inhibition upon exposure to GFMs. Over the past 18 months, we established parameters and key descriptors for the accurate morphological, structural, and chemical characterization of GFMs.
To enhance the availability of validated protocols for nanosafety studies and material characterization, and to improve data reporting guidelines, WP4 is developing the ACCORDs knowledge infrastructure (KI). This infrastructure supports protocol documentation. Initially, ACCORDs partners uploaded their protocols to the ACCORDs Teams shared folder. With the establishment of the ACCORDs KI, we now have a fully functional protocol submission workflow via the ACCORDs knowledge portal’s web interface.
To ensure reliable data for computational modeling and the development of grouping and read-across methods, partners in WP1-WP3 actively contribute to the database, while WP4 partners set up the ACCORDs infrastructure. A workflow on the ACCORDs knowledge portal facilitates data uploads, including an image repository based on OMERO and REMBI open standards for image metadata. ACCORDs aims to develop innovative, user-friendly data and protocol reporting resources, exemplified by the ACCORDs Materials Passport concept. This approach enables the reuse of summary data on material characteristics and method performance through effective communication mechanisms aligned with FAIR data and protocols.
ACCORDs partners recognize that the lack of standards has significantly hindered the commercialization of graphene and layered materials. Consequently, methods tested in ACCORDs that demonstrate optimal performance for GFM characterization across various matrices and GFM-containing products will be recommended for standardization (ISO) and guidance (OECD), aligning with the Principles for Regulatory Acceptance under REACH. These activities are led by WP5 (Proposals for Guidance and Standards, Leader: NWU). Through these efforts, ACCORDs contributes to establishing global standards, supporting the EU’s ambitions for a new EU Strategy on Standardization.
We evaluated the applicability of multiple characterization techniques, including SEM, TEM, TEM-EDX, XRD, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, DLS, Zeta potential measurements, UV-vis spectroscopy, and PSD, which provided critical insights into the physicochemical parameters essential for graphene commercialization, ensuring material quality, property tailoring, safety assessment, optimization, performance, reliability, market acceptance, and competitiveness. Additionally, we assessed two biological characterization methods: circular dichroism (for measuring enzyme AChE and secondary structure) and enzyme (AChE) activity/inhibition upon exposure to GFMs. Over the past 18 months, we established parameters and key descriptors for the accurate morphological, structural, and chemical characterization of GFMs.
To enhance the availability of validated protocols for nanosafety studies and material characterization, and to improve data reporting guidelines, WP4 is developing the ACCORDs knowledge infrastructure (KI). This infrastructure supports protocol documentation. Initially, ACCORDs partners uploaded their protocols to the ACCORDs Teams shared folder. With the establishment of the ACCORDs KI, we now have a fully functional protocol submission workflow via the ACCORDs knowledge portal’s web interface.
To ensure reliable data for computational modeling and the development of grouping and read-across methods, partners in WP1-WP3 actively contribute to the database, while WP4 partners set up the ACCORDs infrastructure. A workflow on the ACCORDs knowledge portal facilitates data uploads, including an image repository based on OMERO and REMBI open standards for image metadata. ACCORDs aims to develop innovative, user-friendly data and protocol reporting resources, exemplified by the ACCORDs Materials Passport concept. This approach enables the reuse of summary data on material characteristics and method performance through effective communication mechanisms aligned with FAIR data and protocols.
ACCORDs partners recognize that the lack of standards has significantly hindered the commercialization of graphene and layered materials. Consequently, methods tested in ACCORDs that demonstrate optimal performance for GFM characterization across various matrices and GFM-containing products will be recommended for standardization (ISO) and guidance (OECD), aligning with the Principles for Regulatory Acceptance under REACH. These activities are led by WP5 (Proposals for Guidance and Standards, Leader: NWU). Through these efforts, ACCORDs contributes to establishing global standards, supporting the EU’s ambitions for a new EU Strategy on Standardization.
The application of ACCORDs’ characterization approach for 2D materials is seen as a practical implementation of the initial step in the ERC SSbD framework. Additionally, the ACCORDs Material Passport provides a unique identity for materials as revealed by a selected characterization method. The Material Passport includes a description of the core principles of the method and a brief interpretation of the results. In this way, summary data on a material’s characteristics and the performance of the methods used enable information reuse through an effective communication mechanism aligned and linked with FAIR data and protocols. The novelty of this approach lies in the fact that not only the characteristics of materials themselves but also the methods applied for characterization are equally well described. The ACCORDs Material Passport provides identification for materials based on their physico-chemical-hazard characteristics, allowing them to be ‘tracked’ or identified for future applications. Material Passports also include information on the protocols used and the repository of raw data. In other words, the physico-chemical-hazard characteristics of the materials can be reused or understood by experts beyond the ACCORDs project. This concept also has the potential to be applied to other advanced materials and by other projects.