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Geo-inspired pathways towards nanoparticle-based metastable solids

Project description

Geological structures and processes inspire novel materials for energy and the environment

Metastable materials are materials that are not entirely stable but relatively so, transforming to another state over a long period of time. They are ubiquitous in nature and in the lab and, given their slightly 'excited' nature relative to ground state stable materials, they often have superior properties. They have tremendous potential for next-generation materials in fields from semiconductors to pharmaceuticals to steel, but detailed understanding required for rational design is missing. The EU-funded Genesis project is taking ideas from nature and formations of solids during geological processes to produce functional inorganic solids as nanoparticles. Not only is the team developing innovative nanoscaled metastable solids that could yield exciting new properties, but it is doing so under mild conditions supporting more sustainable synthetic chemistry.

Objective

Constant search of new solids is required to advance our knowledge in materials science, and then to stimulate progresses in fields like energy and environment. Genesis aims at expanding the collection of functional inorganic solids as nanoparticles by rational exploratory synthesis. The pivotal idea is to draw inspiration from the processes of solid formation encountered in natural geological processes, in order to set a framework of synthesis conditions prone to yield new nanoscaled solids.

I focus on kinetically stabilized, metastable solids, which yield novel, sometimes surprising properties prone to deliver new functions. However, conventional solid-state syntheses use high temperatures that yield thermodynamic products, hence hampering the synthesis of metastable inorganic solids. This obstacle is even more significant when the solids possess complex structures, as is the case of non-oxides made of transition metals and boron, silicon or phosphorus. The known members of these families are made of covalent bonds that bring unique electrocatalytic properties. This motivates the search of ternary solids joining these elements. Their quest is a synthetic challenge that I will address by the discovery of new metastable covalent solids.

To do so, I will set an original inorganic synthesis methodology by taking inspiration from the processes of crystallization of gems in molten salts, of lavas at high rate and of metamorphic rocks at high pressures to merge nanosciences and solid-state chemistry. Genesis will operate at the crossroad of three pillars: use of the surface energy of nanoparticles to stabilize solids that would be metastable in their extended form; establishment of liquid-phase syntheses at 300-1000 °C in mild conditions; use of high-pressure chemistry to stabilize new solids. Within this frame, I will develop new methods to screen in situ the reaction pathways and I will trigger a new reactivity between boron, silicon, phosphorus and nanoparticles.

Host institution

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Net EU contribution
€ 1 999 577,00
Address
RUE MICHEL ANGE 3
75794 Paris
France

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Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
€ 1 999 577,00

Beneficiaries (1)