Project description
New polymers for water harvesting
By 2030, over two-thirds of the world’s population will be facing severe water scarcity. Consequently, there is an urgent need in Europe to develop water harvesting strategies. These strategies require materials capable of collecting and releasing water in response to specific stimuli, such as electricity. However, water harvesting materials have so far been studied only to a little extent. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the E-Sprinkle project aims to develop new polymers with enhanced water stabilisation and retention properties. The project outcomes will pave an innovative path towards addressing the imminent water crisis.
Objective
More than two-thirds of the global population will experience severe water scarcity by 2030. Water harvesting (WH) and managing strategies need to be developed urgently in Europe to face this challenge. Since climate change makes rain and drought unpredictable, water harvesting materials need to collect and release water with deterministic stimuli, as electricity. The applicant (Experienced Researcher, ER), during her PhD and first PostDoc, studied the interaction between water and conducting/semiconducting polymers. She worked on a conducting polymer with glycolated side chains able to undergo volumetric expansion driven by ions and water intake. She believes that such materials are promising for WH, as the collection and release is driven by an electrical stimulus. To increase the water stabilization and retention, she plans to synthetize a new class of polymers based on an electrical-responsive backbone and zwitterionic water-stabilizing side chains. To this end, the ER will be trained on design, synthesis and characterization of polymers at the host institution, the Basque Centre for Macromolecular Design and Engineering (Polymat), by Prof. David Mecerreyes, a leading expert in design and synthesis of innovative polymers. She will then fabricate a prototype that will be tested in a greenhouse on living plants during the secondment at the Linkping University (LiU) with the Electronic Plants group, led by Prof. Eleni Stavrinidou, an emerging expert on interfacing polymers and plants. Finally, the ER will spend a placement at the end of the fellowship at the PolyKey, a startup focused on sustainably scaling up laboratory polymerization processes. Dr. Andere Basterretxea, the CEO of PolyKey, will supervise the ER, training her on scale up procedures. E-Sprinkle will contribute to the scientific and personal growth of the ER, who at the end of this fellowship will be a highly specialized, competitive profile as independent research leader or as manager in industry.
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.1.2 - 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-2023-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.
48940 LEIOA
Spain
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.