Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Autonomous Aerosol Synthesis of Functional Nanomaterials

Objective

Functional materials are critical enablers for sustainable energy systems – a defining global challenge of the 21st century. Among them, multi-element oxides offer great promise to replace scarce noble metals with earth-abundant alternatives for applications in catalysis. However, a critical gap persists: We lack synthesis processes that can both flexibly explore the vast compositional space of these materials to identify high-performing materials AND scale to industrial production. Spray-flame aerosol synthesis could close this gap thanks to its demonstrated ability to produce materials with unique properties at scale. Yet its advantages have been harnessed for only few materials because of the reliance on manual, slow, and intuition-driven optimization of the underlying complex processes, governed by nonlinear interactions between flow, reaction, and particle formation.

My vision with AEROSYN is to transform flame synthesis into an autonomous, high-throughput platform that integrates in situ process diagnostics, real-time product characterization, and AI-driven experimental design. This will enable a step-change in how we explore, understand, and scale the synthesis of functional nanomaterials. A key innovation is my hypothesis that the vast operation parameter space can be drastically reduced through a hierarchical approach that identifies ‘islands of stability’ – sub spaces, where desired materials properties emerge through systematic tuning of operating conditions. AEROSYN will autonomously find and exploit these islands by combining: i) optical and acoustic diagnostics to monitor the reaction process in situ, ii) a novel inline sensor suite for real-time feedback on materials properties, iii) adaptive experimental planning to systematically narrow down viable synthesis pathways, and iv) data analytics and AI to interpret, predict, and optimize. This autonomous evolutionary approach will mark a paradigm shift toward scalable, intelligent materials synthesis.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

This project has not yet been classified with EuroSciVoc.
Be the first one to suggest relevant scientific fields and help us improve our classification service

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

(opens in new window) ERC-2025-ADG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

UNIVERSITAET DUISBURG-ESSEN
Net EU contribution
€ 2 912 181,00
Address
UNIVERSITATSSTRASSE 2
45141 Essen
Germany
Region
Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf Essen, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data

Beneficiaries (1)