Project description
Innovating 4D polymorphic material design through strain engineering
Polymorphic materials undergo phase transitions with changes in properties like colour and conductivity, yet understanding how altering a material's structure impacts its polymorphism remains challenging. The ERC-funded STRAINSWITCH project aims to control these transitions through strain engineering. The project will develop computational methods to predict how strain from internal and external stimuli influences a material's polymorphism and identify an optimal balance for phase transition control. Objectives include understanding strain propagation over time and space and identifying strains that activate polymorphism under specific conditions. Establishing fundamental relationships between disorder, strain, and function, STRAINSWITCH will focus on 4D polymorphic material design for metal-organic frameworks and metal halide perovskites. Applications in water harvesting and photovoltaic devices will address challenges including water accessibility and renewable energy.
Objective
It is often easy to observe the ability of polymorphic materials to undergo a phase transition through changes in colour, conductivity, photovoltaic efficiency, or other functional properties. In contrast, it is challenging to control under which external stimuli–stress, temperature, adsorption–these materials switch. Yet, enabling such polymorphic material design would be a game changer for pressing societal challenges, from access to drinkable water to producing green energy. This requires a firm understanding of how changing a material’s structure impacts its polymorphism and macroscopic function.
In STRAINSWITCH, I aim to transform polymorphic material design by establishing the strain engineering concept. The central characteristic in my in silico approach is strain: the extent to which a material deforms due to external or internal triggers. On the one hand, external stimuli generate strain, even before they activate a phase transition. On the other, spatial disorder in a structure, tuneable from the atom to the device scale, also induces strain that interferes with external strain fields. My key hypothesis is that it is possible to systematically predict which disorder is needed to ensure polymorphism only occurs under well-defined external triggers by balancing these internal and external strain fields.
To confirm this hypothesis, I will develop new in silico methods with the goal to:
i. understand how disorder induces strain fields in a material that propagate through both space (3D) and time (+1D) to enable 4D design;
ii. predict which internal strain fields activate a material’s polymorphism under specific external stimuli.
In STRAINSWITCH, I will combine both goals to establish fundamental disorder-strain-function relationships that can be validated experimentally for metal-organic frameworks and metal halide perovskites. They will pave the way for 4D polymorphic material design with application in water harvesting, photovoltaic devices, and more.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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.
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.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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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) ERC-2023-STG
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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.
9000 Gent
Belgium
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.