EMILIE – ESTABLISHING A NEW PARADIGM IN NANOMATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION

Project Information

EMILIE

Grant agreement ID: 101202787

DOI

10.3030/101202787

Project closed

EC signature date 18 December 2024

Start date 1 February 2025

End date 31 July 2025

Funded under

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

INVISIBLE-LIGHT LABS GMBH
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EMILIE (EMILIE – ESTABLISHING A NEW PARADIGM IN NANOMATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION)

Reporting period: 2025-02-01 to 2025-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Nanotechnologies have had a major role to play in the modernization and revolution of many industries such as agriculture, food, cosmetics, medicine, healthcare, automotive, oil and gas industries, chemical, and mechanical industries. However, the development of scientific instrumentation capable of handling such small samples and characterizing them has been lagging. As a result, very few nanomedicines have been commercialized so far due in part to the challenges in their characterization, semiconductor fabs and chemical suppliers suffer yield reductions and profit losses due to unidentified nanoscale contaminants, and unfortunately, nanopollutants, such as airborne aerosols with sizes smaller than 2.5 µm and nanoplastics remain unregulated for lack of effective routine monitoring technologies, resulting in unnecessary deaths (500,000 yearly deaths in the EU caused by air pollution alone), increased diseases (nanoplastics have been linked to cancer, obesity, diabetes,…) and hundreds of billions of euros in associated healthcare costs. There exists a current pressing need to fill the technological gap in the analysis of nanoparticles. During the NEMILIES EIC Transition project, we developed EMILIE, an innovative infrared (IR) analyser based on groundbreaking nanoelectromechanical sensing (NEMS) technology which pushes the boundaries of traditional Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy.

During the NEMILIES EIC Transition project, we developed EMILIE, an innovative infrared (IR) analyser based on nanoelectromechanical sensing (NEMS) technology. EMILIE’s groundbreaking nanomechanical sensing technology pushes the boundaries of traditional Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy By significantly enhancing the sensitivity of traditional FTIRs and cutting down analysis times as well as instrument acquisition costs, EMILIE opens an array of new possibilities in nanomaterials characterization, paving the way to breakthroughs in environmental monitoring, nanomedicines, and more. However, several barriers must still be overcome to commercialize EMILIE and fully realize its potential. The objective of this booster project is to open the pathway to the commercialization of EMILIE by addressing standardization, regulation, and intellectual property issues.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Objectives
The overall objective of this work package is to open up the pathway to commercialization of EMILIE by addressing standardization, regulation, and intellectual property issues which currently form market entry barriers.

O1: Establish a quasi-standard for microplastics characterization – Provide a first round-robin test for microplastics analysis comparing EMILIE to state-of-the-art nanoplastics analysis technology
O2: Secure IP – Secure intellectual property for the high efficiency sampling and handling of liquid samples
O3: Extend pilot testing the USA market – Remove market entry barriers for the largest market (USA)

Description of work:

We demonstrate that EMILIE provides better data than state-of-the art ATR-FTIR spectroscopy for the identification and quantification of nanoplastics in released from nylon teabags. We also demonstrated that the method was compatible with state-of-the-art photothermal spectroscopy whereas airborne nanoplastics as small as 10 nm can be easily and efficiently collected on EMILIE nanomechanical chips for bulk characterization followed by further morphological analysis of the nanoplastic greater than 200 nm by O-PTIR. The non-destructive nature of EMILIE allowed for the synergy and provided an ideal sample support for O-PTIR.

We filed a patent protecting the tool developed for the handling of liquid samples to allow for the development of use cases in industrial and pharmaceutical applications as well as for the analysis of nanoplastics in aqueous samples, such as tea bag leachates.

We removed regulatory barriers for testing and selling in the USA by testing EMILIE according to US safety norms EN IEC 61326-1:2021 and FCC Part 15 of Title 47, Subpart B - Unintentional Radiators, and safety testing according to US norm UL61010-1.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Nanotechnologies have had a major role to play in the modernization and revolution of many industries such as agriculture, food, cosmetics, medicine, healthcare, automotive, oil and gas industries, chemical, and mechanical industries. However, the development of scientific instrumentation capable of handling such small samples and characterizing them has been lagging. As a result, very few nanomedicines have been commercialized so far due in part to the challenges in their characterization, semiconductor fabs and chemical suppliers suffer yield reductions and profit losses due to unidentified nanoscale contaminants, and unfortunately, nanopollutants, such as airborne aerosols with sizes smaller than 2.5 µm and nanoplastics remain unregulated for lack of effective routine monitoring technologies, resulting in unnecessary deaths (500,000 yearly deaths in the EU caused by air pollution alone), increased diseases (nanoplastics have been linked to cancer, obesity, diabetes,…) and hundreds of billions of euros in associated healthcare costs. There exists a current pressing need to fill the technological gap in the analysis of nanoparticles. Since the initial definition of nanomaterials and its subsequent update in late 2023, various legislations have been enacted to regulate or restrict the use of nanomaterials in specific hazardous applications, notably in cosmetics, food, and biocides. The measurement methods outlined in the guidelines provided by the European Commission (EC) through the Joint Research Centre (JRC) lack a rapid and specialized approach for chemical composition analysis. This limitation hinders the level of quality assurance necessary to fully implement the EC's recommendations on nanomaterials, highlighting the urgent requirements for new characterization tools. EMILIE is poised to disrupt the environmental monitoring market by filling the currently existing gap in routine monitoring technology of nanoplastics. The nanoparticle analysis market is currently dominated by “extremely specialized technologies with complexity and costs that cannot be realistic options for routine monitoring…”. Our work in Objective 1 aims to establish EMILIE as a quasi-standard for routine environmental nanoplastic analysis, providing a cost-effective, fast, and sensitive tool to support the development of future regulations. We will further these experiments by continuing to work with key opinion leaders in the field to raise regulatory awareness.

Analysis of mixed nanoplastics with picogram sensitivity by NEMS-FTIR with EMILIE