Project description
Nature’s blueprint for a fossil-free future
Reaching the EU’s climate goals requires new ways to make clean fuel. One of the most promising ideas is artificial photosynthesis: copying plants by using sunlight to turn CO2 into energy. In practice, however, today’s systems are inefficient, often breaking down as soon as they come into contact with water. The ERC-funded IMMPACT project aims to rethink how these reactions are built. Instead of mixing chemicals in bulk, the team uses tiny fat-based bubbles (liposomes). Serving as miniature reactors, light-sensitive molecules and metal-organic frameworks are kept protected inside liposomes, allowing energy to move more quickly and reliably. This points to a new way of creating the materials that could support a fossil-fuel-free energy system.
Objective
The European Union’s ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 requires us to transition from fossil fuels to sustainable forms of energy. Artificial photosynthesis, which converts solar energy into chemical fuels using abundant resources like CO2 and H2O, represents a real alternative. However, current photocatalytic systems suffer from inefficiencies in sunlight capture, charge recombination, and poor stability in aqueous media.
The IMMPACT project proposes a pioneering strategy: compartmentalising supramolecular catalysts based on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), photosensitisers, sacrificial reagents, and charge carriers within liposome-based nanoreactors. This innovative approach leverages supramolecular receptors to facilitate transmembrane transport of MOF building blocks, allowing unprecedented control over the bottom-up assembly of MOFs within compartmentalised nanostructures. Using liposomes as bio-inspired nanoreactors will enhance the stability of MOF-based photocatalysts in aqueous media, improve sunlight-absorption efficiency, and accelerate the charge separation by bringing the catalytic centre and the photosensitiser into close proximity.
This groundbreaking research merges material science, supramolecular chemistry, and catalysis to drive the boundaries of solar-fuel technology. The success of the IMMPACT project will not only advance our understanding of compartmentalised photocatalytic systems but also mark the first use of ionophore-facilitated ion transport for nanostructuring hybrid materials, thereby paving the way for new horizons in nanomaterial development and sustainable energy technologies.
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.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy solar energy
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis photocatalysis
- natural sciences biological sciences botany
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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.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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-ERC - HORIZON ERC 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-2025-STG
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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.
28049 MADRID
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.