Project description
A closer look at trace gas detection
Detecting trace gases at part-per-billion (ppb) levels with exceptional precision is vital for environmental monitoring, industrial processes, and healthcare. However, such capabilities currently depend on bulky, expensive sensors, restricting their use to research labs. The ERC Starting Grant project, sCENT, created the first chip-scale sensor matching the sensitivity and selectivity of high-end instruments. Compact, lightweight, and requiring only tiny sample volumes, these sensors offer a groundbreaking combination of high-end functionality and portability. The ERC-funded sCENT2 project aims to advance the technology to prototype stage and demonstrate its use in studying methane-consuming bacteria from permafrost soils. This innovation promises transformative environmental monitoring with unparalleled data density.
Objective
The demand for highly sensitive trace gas detection down to part-per-billion (ppb) levels and exceptional selectivity is paramount across various fields, including environmental monitoring, industrial process control, and healthcare. Currently, such capabilities are only accessible through bulky and expensive high-end sensors, limiting their use primarily to research settings. However, the ERC Starting Grant project sCENT has recently achieved a significant breakthrough by demonstrating the first chip-scale sensor capable of ppb-level detection and selectivity equivalent to that of high-end instruments. These sensors merge the strengths of high-end commercial spectroscopic systems, offering sensitivity, selectivity, isotope detection capability, and long-term stability, while also being compact, lightweight, and requiring only microlitre sample volumes. This success was possible due to a pioneering waveguide design supporting air-like modes, demonstrated within the ERC Starting Grant sCENT.
The current project aims to explore the disruptive innovation potential of the sCENT sensor concept, advancing it from a proof-of-concept to the next level of technological readiness. This entails (i) the development of a prototype module and (ii) its real-life application demonstration to study the metabolic emissions of methane-consuming bacteria native to permafrost soils.
Additionally, the project encompasses crucial aspects such as IP protection management, monitoring target markets (primarily environmental intelligence), and designing a technology roadmap for the sensor's exploitation. Outreach activities are meticulously planned to promote the sensors to potential commercial partners, end-users, and stakeholders. The overarching vision for the sCENT sensor is to unlock new opportunities for large-scale in-situ gas monitoring with unparalleled data density, ultimately enhancing our capabilities for environmental intelligence in the face of our evolving climate.
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 biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
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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-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept 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-POC
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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.
9019 Tromso
Norway
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.