Project description
Exploring the potential of tiny, gel-like structures for carbon storage
Soils play a vital role in storing carbon and supporting plant growth. However, the exact mechanisms behind long-term carbon stabilisation remain unclear. The ERC-funded NANOCLICS project will focus on tiny structures in soil called nanoCLICs. These are gel-like materials made of metal and organic molecules that are key to locking carbon in the soil for a long time. Using advanced nanoscale imaging techniques, NANOCLICS will study these structures in 10 soil types, understand how they form and change over time, and measure their role in carbon storage. By combining this nanoscale knowledge with carbon storage models, the project aims to improve soil carbon management and provide new insights into how soils can help combat climate change.
Objective
The NANOCLICS project will demonstrate that metallic polymers of just a few atoms linked to organic molecules are the pivotal organomineral association structures in soils. They form an hydrated gel nanostructure called nanoCLICs. The project will: 1) explore their structure at the nanoscale in 10 soil types; 2) elucidate the nanoCLICs dynamics; and 3) quantify their contribution to soil carbon sequestration. The project will rely on the nanoCLICs molecular model that I previously developed.
Organomineral associations stabilize organic compounds in soils, which is crucial for long-term carbon sequestration and plant nutrition. Demonstrating that metallic polymers of a few atoms linked to organic molecules are the molecular units of these associations is key to understanding carbon stabilization, but their nanostructure and dynamics must first be deciphered.
Organic molecule adsorption on mineral surfaces is often put forward to explain the persistence of organic compounds in soils. However, direct in situ characterization in intact samples has been challenging due to the lack of true nanometer-scale resolution analyses. My recent studies have demonstrated that organomineral nanostructures can now be characterized using advanced nanometer-resolved nanoscience techniques.
By using these techniques, which I recently applied to Andosols, we will fulfil three objectives:
STRUCTURE: we will explore the nanoCLIs structure at the nanoscale in 10 soil types using nanoscale spatially resolved imaging techniques
DYNAMICS: we will elucidate the nanoCLICs dynamics (formation, evolution, disruption) using a specifically developed long-term column experiment
MODEL: we will quantify nanoCLICs contributions to soil carbon sequestration by linking nanoscale organomineral knowledge with operational carbon storage models
The NANOCLICS project will unlock crucial insights into the stabilization and destabilization of soil organic matter, enhancing soil carbon management.
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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 organic chemistry
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG
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75007 PARIS CEDEX 07
France
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