Project description
Transforming surgical mask waste into power
Fossil-free energy is imperative for a sustainable future, yet the surge in spent surgical masks, a fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, poses an environmental challenge. With the support of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the MESTUM project pioneers a transformative solution. Leveraging metal carbides from spent surgical masks, a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, MESTUM extends the capabilities of supercapacitors (SC) to meet escalating global energy demands. Manganese metal carbides, abundant and efficient, offer groundbreaking pseudocapacitance and cyclic stability. The project’s approach transforms surgical mask waste into transition metal structures, enhancing surface area and reducing environmental impact. MESTUM targets a substantial increase in specific capacity by exploring porous structures, a key to advancing SC technologies.
Objective
Fossil-free and renewable energy sources are a must for a sustainable society. Pushing the limitation of supercapacitors (SC) beyond their limits by producing metal carbides using as carbon source spent surgical masks, an immense side-product burden of COVID-19 pandemic, MESTUM project aims to tackle the worldwide increasing energy demand with highly efficient, stable, environmentally friendly and low-cost electrode materials (EM). The development of EM by transition metal carbides has attracted significant research attention thanks to its high-temperature stability, conductivity, easy operation in aqueous/organic electrolytes and insignificant electrolyte leaching. Easily accessible and abundant, manganese metal carbides, with multiple electron transfer ability, represent an excellent source possessing the key performance markers for SC: Ground-breaking pseudocapacitance and cyclic stability. By exploring the challenge of also generating a porous structure, MESTUM aims to expand an electrochemically active specific surface area and porosity of transition metal carbide and thus deliver a significant growth of specific capacity performance. During synthesis, the ground-breaking approach of turning the porous carbon from the surgical mask into the transition metal structure will orchestrate a brilliant coupling of increasing the surface area and reducing surgical mask waste. For machine learning prediction of specific capacity and cyclic stability, the two most critical performance-related features of SC, the materials properties (morphology, composition, surface area, etc.) and operational conditions (electrolytes, current density, potential window, etc.), are crucial. To tackle this issue, the project will set the optimized parameters to easily evaluate the prospects of developed materials in SC application. By a pioneering effort toward the significant advancement of SC technologies, the MESTUM project will address a fundamental need for clean energy sources.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
771 47 Olomouc
Czechia
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.