Project description
Revolutionising green reactor technology by regulating dynamic thermo-catalysis
Climate change demands greener and more efficient chemical reactors. Catalysts, used in most reactors, can impair rate, selectivity and energy efficiency. Pulsed heating can overcome these limitations, resulting in over 100x higher reaction yield, lower energy use and controlled product distribution. However, this technique is challenging to implement due to the difficulty in selecting and rapidly heating catalysts. In this context, the ERC-funded HEATPULSE project will use light pulses and durable ‘plasmonic’ materials for regulating dynamic thermo-catalysis. The project will tackle kinetics, localisation, and stability and performance, modulating pulse timing, confining heat at thermal hotspots and developing temperature-stable pulsed photocatalysts. The project represents a revolution in green reactor technology, shifting from fossil fuels to light-pulsing with renewables.
Objective
The climate catastrophe urgently calls for greening and intensifying chemical reactors. Most chemical reactors use catalysts to speed up reactions, but their operation at steady-state temperature impairs rate, selectivity, and energy efficiency. To go beyond these limitations, applying short heat pulses theoretically leads to >100× higher reaction yield, lower energy use, and a controlled product distribution. However, pulsed heating has remained out of reach because it is hard to heat catalysts selectively and fast enough.
I break this paradigm and take control of dynamic thermo-catalysis by using light pulses and robust “plasmonic” materials that convert light to heat with nanoscale specificity. HEATPULSE comprises three work packages that tackle three challenges: (1) kinetics: modulate pulse timing for controlling reaction rate and selectivity, (2) localization: confine heat at thermal hotspots to boost energy efficiency, and (3) stability and performance: access high peak reaction rates by developing temperature-stable pulsed photocatalysts.
Ground-breaking innovations: (1) Access to a normally unreachable reaction landscape, with dynamic tunability of catalyst activity and selectivity; (2) Thermal hotspots break the limit of nanoscale heating and reach 3× higher peak temperatures with exponentially enhanced rates; (3) Metal nitride nano-arrays integrated with single-atom catalysts grant thermal stability beyond 1000 °C.
HEATPULSE represents a revolution in green reactor technology by shifting from burning fossil fuels to heat-pulsing with light, powered by renewables. The project will lead to the new field of “photocatalysis beyond the steady-state” at the crossroads of catalysis, nanophotonics, and materials science. With an accomplished track record in nanoscale light-driven chemistry, and as a pioneer in the field of pulsed catalysis at both experimental and theoretical level, I am uniquely suited to unlock the full potential of pulsed photothermal catal
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.
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis photocatalysis
- social sciences political sciences political transitions revolutions
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
- engineering and technology nanotechnology nanophotonics
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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)
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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
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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
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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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1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands
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