SELECTA has successfully achieved all the training and scientific objectives. During the first year of project the 15 ESRs were recruited, among them 7 were female (46.7%) and they came from 11 different countries, thus fulfilling EC requirements concerning gender balance and diversity. The top-class training provided by the network has encompassed theoretical, experimental and soft skills training and secondments to other partner institutions (46 in total). The project milestones have been properly accomplished, all the deliverables have been submitted and 8 network events have been organized during the action to properly train the ESRs.
The main scientific results achieved so far include: (i) selection of candidate materials for environmental applications; (ii) design and implementation of novel solutions for the electrodeposition of fully dense rare-earth- and noble-metal free alloys (coatings) on a variety of substrates (e.g. brass, steel, metallized Si, etc.); (iii) miniaturization of materials to produce small-scale robotic devices; (iv) microstructural characterization of the investigated materials; (v) in-depth characterization of the physical and physicochemical properties of the fabricated materials (magnetic, corrosion resistance, mechanical, etc.); (vi) implementation of the developed SELECTA materials in innovative technology and industrial products (up-scaling), such as water purification membranes, demonstrator magnetic MEMS/NEMS prototypes, miniaturized components integrated into hybrid (magnetic + photocatalytic) robotic platforms for use in environmental remediation, etc.
The results obtained by the network have been disseminated through the publication of 24 articles in peer-reviewed journals. At the moment, several additional manuscripts have been submitted (12) or are in an advanced stage of preparation (13). In addition, 96 presentations have been delivered in national and international conferences by the network members (39 posters, 45 oral talks and 12 invited talks). The most relevant achievements have also been communicated to the general public through outreach activities, the SELECTA website, Facebook and YouTube. Remarkably, the knowledge transfer from the academic sector to the industrial partners has allowed the successful implementation and exploitation of several research results by the companies of the network.
