Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GIANCE (Graphene Alliance for Sustainable Multifunctional Materials to Tackle Environmental Challenges)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-10-01 al 2025-03-31
Europe stands at a pivotal moment in the development and deployment of advanced materials. Driven by growing demands across key sectors such as automotive, aerospace, energy, and water treatment, the need for smart, multifunctional materials has never been more pressing. The European graphene market, alongside paints, coatings, and composites, is experiencing rapid growth, reflecting an industry-wide shift toward innovation based on nanotechnologies.
Despite the clear potential of graphene-related materials (GRMs) and other 2D materials (2DMs) to enable high-performance, sustainable solutions, key barriers remain—including cost-efficiency, environmental impact, scalability, and nanosafety. Addressing these challenges requires a coordinated, industry-driven response.
GIANCE (Graphene Alliance for Sustainable Composites and Coatings in Europe) is designed to meet this need. It establishes a comprehensive and integrated platform for the design, development, and scalable manufacturing of next-generation GRM-based multifunctional materials—composites, coatings, foams, and membranes—with enhanced mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties. By supporting advanced use cases with TRL ≥6, GIANCE aims to accelerate the commercial adoption of GRM/2DM technologies in critical sectors.
Through strong industrial partnerships, including major OEMs such as CRF Stellantis and Boeing, GIANCE fosters a robust innovation ecosystem aligned with the goals of the EU Green Deal, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the Horizon Europe programme. The project combines cutting-edge material development with improved manufacturing processes and sustainability strategies, ensuring the European industry maintains a competitive edge while addressing pressing environmental and societal challenges.
Despite the clear potential of graphene-related materials (GRMs) and other 2D materials (2DMs) to enable high-performance, sustainable solutions, key barriers remain—including cost-efficiency, environmental impact, scalability, and nanosafety. Addressing these challenges requires a coordinated, industry-driven response.
GIANCE (Graphene Alliance for Sustainable Composites and Coatings in Europe) is designed to meet this need. It establishes a comprehensive and integrated platform for the design, development, and scalable manufacturing of next-generation GRM-based multifunctional materials—composites, coatings, foams, and membranes—with enhanced mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties. By supporting advanced use cases with TRL ≥6, GIANCE aims to accelerate the commercial adoption of GRM/2DM technologies in critical sectors.
Through strong industrial partnerships, including major OEMs such as CRF Stellantis and Boeing, GIANCE fosters a robust innovation ecosystem aligned with the goals of the EU Green Deal, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the Horizon Europe programme. The project combines cutting-edge material development with improved manufacturing processes and sustainability strategies, ensuring the European industry maintains a competitive edge while addressing pressing environmental and societal challenges.
Work performed and main achievements can be summarised as the following:
Identifed technical and environmental and economic sustainability requirements of the eleven use cases of the project as the initial engagement of the first phase of the project and forms the basis of the following work packages through identification of the requirements.
The majority of UCs in the project have viable pathways for recycling or reuse, contributing to improved circularity and supporting the sustainability goals of the project.
As part of its sustainability goals, the GIANCE project evaluated the safe integration of Graphene-Related Materials (GRMs) and other 2D nanomaterials across 11 use cases (UCs), with a particular focus on nanosafety and environmental impact. The results are potential risks associated with these materials, including their reactivity and interaction with biological systems, ensuring alignment with industrial safety standards.
The methodological approach includes material selection strategies, design for assembly/disassembly (DFA/DFD), design for recycling (DFR), and functional lightweight design. A conceptual study has provided a realistic manufacturing scenario and cost analysis, ensuring the feasibility and practicality of the proposed solutions. Furthermore, partners have contributed to the eco-design concepts related to optimizing advanced graphene-based materials (GRM-bM), feasibility, manufacturing technologies, and recyclability.
Regarding the production routes for GRM, a qualitative sustainability checklist was developed as an initial screening tool, addressing environmental, economic, and social aspects, with a strong emphasis on environmental performance.
Key findings indicate that energy consumption is the primary environmental hotspot across most GRMs, particularly for Graphene Nanoplatelets , Laser reduced Graphene Oxide, and Laser induced graphene. For these, the integration of renewable energy sources is highly recommended. In the case of CVD-based FLG production, significant impacts were observed across all environmental indicators. For graphene oxide (GO), water use and liquid waste generation are the main environmental concerns.
To enhance sustainability, several improvement measures were proposed, such as:
Using waste-derived carbon sources as precursors;
Prioritizing renewable electricity in energy-intensive processes;
Promoting process efficiency and greener applications in future developments.
These actions support the transition to more environmentally and economically sustainable GRM production pathways, especially in preparation for their use in demonstrators.
Technology readiness assessment has been completed by determining the TRLs for the UCs, eval-uation is based on the answers given to a set of questions for each level. The questions are broken into five categories: General, manufacturing, material – process, integration, legal/IP. These catego-ries are aligned with the scope of the technology development per GIANCE. These questions help to identify and articulate assumptions made prior to the development of requirements for the target-ed TRL. Technology development associated with an UC is identified early in the project life cycle and its maturity level needs to evolve to the targeted level through the project.
Identifed technical and environmental and economic sustainability requirements of the eleven use cases of the project as the initial engagement of the first phase of the project and forms the basis of the following work packages through identification of the requirements.
The majority of UCs in the project have viable pathways for recycling or reuse, contributing to improved circularity and supporting the sustainability goals of the project.
As part of its sustainability goals, the GIANCE project evaluated the safe integration of Graphene-Related Materials (GRMs) and other 2D nanomaterials across 11 use cases (UCs), with a particular focus on nanosafety and environmental impact. The results are potential risks associated with these materials, including their reactivity and interaction with biological systems, ensuring alignment with industrial safety standards.
The methodological approach includes material selection strategies, design for assembly/disassembly (DFA/DFD), design for recycling (DFR), and functional lightweight design. A conceptual study has provided a realistic manufacturing scenario and cost analysis, ensuring the feasibility and practicality of the proposed solutions. Furthermore, partners have contributed to the eco-design concepts related to optimizing advanced graphene-based materials (GRM-bM), feasibility, manufacturing technologies, and recyclability.
Regarding the production routes for GRM, a qualitative sustainability checklist was developed as an initial screening tool, addressing environmental, economic, and social aspects, with a strong emphasis on environmental performance.
Key findings indicate that energy consumption is the primary environmental hotspot across most GRMs, particularly for Graphene Nanoplatelets , Laser reduced Graphene Oxide, and Laser induced graphene. For these, the integration of renewable energy sources is highly recommended. In the case of CVD-based FLG production, significant impacts were observed across all environmental indicators. For graphene oxide (GO), water use and liquid waste generation are the main environmental concerns.
To enhance sustainability, several improvement measures were proposed, such as:
Using waste-derived carbon sources as precursors;
Prioritizing renewable electricity in energy-intensive processes;
Promoting process efficiency and greener applications in future developments.
These actions support the transition to more environmentally and economically sustainable GRM production pathways, especially in preparation for their use in demonstrators.
Technology readiness assessment has been completed by determining the TRLs for the UCs, eval-uation is based on the answers given to a set of questions for each level. The questions are broken into five categories: General, manufacturing, material – process, integration, legal/IP. These catego-ries are aligned with the scope of the technology development per GIANCE. These questions help to identify and articulate assumptions made prior to the development of requirements for the target-ed TRL. Technology development associated with an UC is identified early in the project life cycle and its maturity level needs to evolve to the targeted level through the project.
Results regarding water remediation applications, specifically, the evaluation of contaminants in wastewater, using materials as graphene oxide. The progress beyond the state of the art corresponds to develop strategies for enhancing the sonophotocatalytic degradation of contaminants of emerging concern more specifically using bismuth sulfur iodide (BiSI). Such results are not published yet
In today’s world, preserving the environment in general and water quality in particular is one of the most relevant and pressing issues, with important scientific, technological and political efforts in this regard. However, the lack of stringent standards regarding contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in water has led to the continuous discharge or significant amounts of pharmaceuticals, organic dyes, and pesticides into water bodies. These contaminants are highly stable, making them resistant to degradation by conventional wastewater treatment plants. Many persistent contaminants also have the potential to bioaccumulate in organisms and humans, posing serious health risks . Pharmaceuticals, in particular, are a widespread concern, with concentrations in water exceeding levels known to cause ecological harm and potentially contributing to the growing global crisis of antimicrobial resistance . Among them, carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most used antiepileptic and convulsant, mainly used to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and epilepsy. As it is extensively used, CBZ is frequently found in surface and groundwater, accumulating in aquatic organisms due to its stability and persistence. These facts highlight the urgent need to develop effective methods for removing CECs in general, and CBZ in particular, from water, in order to properly protect aquatic ecosystems
In today’s world, preserving the environment in general and water quality in particular is one of the most relevant and pressing issues, with important scientific, technological and political efforts in this regard. However, the lack of stringent standards regarding contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in water has led to the continuous discharge or significant amounts of pharmaceuticals, organic dyes, and pesticides into water bodies. These contaminants are highly stable, making them resistant to degradation by conventional wastewater treatment plants. Many persistent contaminants also have the potential to bioaccumulate in organisms and humans, posing serious health risks . Pharmaceuticals, in particular, are a widespread concern, with concentrations in water exceeding levels known to cause ecological harm and potentially contributing to the growing global crisis of antimicrobial resistance . Among them, carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most used antiepileptic and convulsant, mainly used to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and epilepsy. As it is extensively used, CBZ is frequently found in surface and groundwater, accumulating in aquatic organisms due to its stability and persistence. These facts highlight the urgent need to develop effective methods for removing CECs in general, and CBZ in particular, from water, in order to properly protect aquatic ecosystems