International projects

Highly bioactive fillers, designed to mimic the natural bone chemistry and characterized by osteoinductive, osteoconductive and osseointegrative nature, are aimed to be developed within the proposed project. The important part of the design is the chemistry of the bioactive components - including bone-like multi-doped hydroxyapatite (mHAp), biodegradable and biocompatible polymer and bioactive peptides within an injectable matrix. The healing strategy predicts injecting the matrix to fit the size and shape of bone defect, solidifying the matrix after UV-crosslinking and local, matrix-controlled release of active components. The collaboration will include bioactive mHAp design at Jozef Stefan Institute (JSI), surface functionalization with bifunctional bioactive and antimicrobial peptides at University of Gdańsk (UG) and crosslinked matrix design at Wrocław University of Science and Technology (Wrocław Tech.). The final proof of the concept will include matrix biodegradation and release of bioactive components (Wrocław Tech., UG, JSI), as well as confirming the prevention of bacterial colonization (JSI), and stimulative and osteoconductive nature of injectable matrix with loaded bioactive components (Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana (FFA).

ASTERISK proposes integrating seawater treatment and green hydrogen production using a Platinum Group Metal (PGM)-free anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyser. The consortium will work on developing AEM stack components compatible and stable under saline conditions, namely water oxidation and water reduction electrocatalysts, anion exchange ionomers and membranes, porous transport layers and electrical contacts. ASTERISK will incorporate a minimal seawater treatment step before the stack to remove biological, organic and suspended solids content with minimal energy requirements and operating costs, leaving the ions naturally present in seawater to enter the stack. The project will meet the challenging KPIs set by this call and significantly improve upon the degradation rate of <5% over 500h operation leveraging the current experience on materials and membranes design already developed in ongoing projects involving several ASTERISK partners. If successful, ASTERISK will advance cost-effective and sustainable green hydrogen production and contribute to the European Union's long-term carbon neutrality and renewable energy leadership goals.

Anti-ferroelectric (AFE) perovskites are promising materials for high energy storage due to their characteristic double-hysteresis loops, which allow for large amounts of recoverable energy with low loss. However, progress in lead-free AFE materials has been limited. The few known compositions demonstrate relatively small recoverable energy because of moderate polarization values and low breakdown fields.

So far, lead-free AFEs have mainly been realized in bulk ceramics, while achieving AFE behavior in thin films remains a significant challenge. Yet, thin films are essential for enabling high-throughput material design, greater energy density, and the flexibility required for device miniaturization.

Our project aims to overcome these challenges by developing new lead-free AFE thin films with enhanced performance, paving the way for sustainable, high-efficiency energy storage solutions in future electronic devices.

Osteochondral defects pose a significant challenge in medicine, with current treatments failing to restore cartilage-bone integration, leading to joint degeneration and disabilities. REGENESIS tackles this unmet clinical and market need by developing biomaterial for treating osteochondral microfractures and injuries. Our multidisciplinary approach combines pharmacological stem cell mobilisation and use of homing peptides for precise cell recruitment, cytocompatible photocrosslinking for safety and stability with mechanotransductive biomaterial for tissue-specific repair. REGEniq material offers an optimal solution for knee, ankle and phalange joint injuries while improving outcomes in surgeries like arthroscopy. Advancing REGEniq from TRL3 to TRL5, the project bridges key clinical care and market gaps, ensuring better patient outcomes, lower costs, and fast adoption of regenerative technologies. Clinicians, veterinarians and researchers stand to benefit from REGENESIS’s implementation.

RESH project proposes a clean and sustainable low-carbon technology based on a radically new approach to converting solar energy into solar fuels. The project focuses on photoelectrochemical water splitting, enhanced by piezo- and pyrocatalysis, as well as on the development of novel nickel-based co-catalysts that avoid the use of precious metals.

The core concept relies on heterostructures that epitaxially integrate protective oxide layers with silicon semiconductors. This process makes use of graphene-based interlayers and pulsed laser deposition technology, which enable precise atomic-level control over material growth.

One of the project’s most environmentally significant aspects is the reuse of decommissioned solar panels, repurposed for photoelectrochemical devices after integration with oxide heterostructures.

RESH aims to achieve high solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency (>10%) with long-term operational stability under real-world conditions. In addition, the project explores green ammonia production as a pathway for efficient hydrogen storage and distribution.

GRIPHUS aims to produce e-fuels by valorizing CO2 using advanced photocatalytic membrane reactors. The project will design, build, operate, and validate a lab-scale prototype of an advanced photocatalytic process assisted by membranes. It focuses on CO2 reuse as a carbon carrier in the fuel cycle, producing e-fuels like methanol through hydrogenation with green hydrogen. The project combines experimental and theoretical activities, including multiscale modeling and quantum chemical simulations. GRIPHUS promotes e-fuel production with positive environmental impacts, fostering a circular economy in the EU. It redefines CO2 as a resource for green-chemicals and e-fuels, enhancing photocatalytic reaction efficiency and providing sustainable solutions. 

The H-GREEN project aims to address the global energy crisis by advancing pioneering technologies and materials in the photo-, pyro-, and electro-catalysis of water splitting. The project will leverage the unique properties of functional oxide materials to facilitate the cost-effective production of green hydrogen through water splitting, aligned with climate objectives in Europe. The expert consortium consists of fundamental research organisations and industrial companies with the expertise needed to solve this critical problem. Through secondments and knowledge-sharing training, we will equip a new cluster of material scientists with the skills and expertise needed to develop H-GREEN technologies that will power the world sustainably.

The ANEMEL project (Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolysis) is an initiative aimed at advancing the production of green hydrogen using low-grade water sources, such as saline or wastewater, instead of competing with fresh drinking water. Funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC), it focuses on developing efficient electrolysers that can generate green hydrogen with minimal water treatment. By using non-critical raw materials and avoiding pollutants, ANEMEL's innovations will reduce the costs and environmental impact of hydrogen production, with the ultimate goal of commercializing the technology. The project is crucial in helping Europe transition to a more sustainable, fossil-free energy landscape.

HetCat, short for "Engineering of two-dimensional heterostructural photocatalysts for hydrogen generation," is a research project focused on developing advanced photocatalysts to enhance solar hydrogen production from water. While specific details are limited, the project aims to address the current inefficiencies in photocatalytic solar hydrogen production, which is considered a cost-effective method but not yet efficient enough for commercial use.

Materials have played a decisive role in nearly all rupture technologies in the industrial history of our society. Faced with the current climate, geopolitical and humanitarian crisis, many international and regional entities (political, industrial and scientific alike) recognize the importance of a strong materials innovation ecosystem for driving the clean energy transition. In response, self-driving laboratories (SDL) (a.k.a. MAPs – materials acceleration platforms) are created at institutional, regional and international levels. SDLs integrate combinatorial synthesis, high-throughput characterization, automated analysis and machine learning for fast-track discovery and optimization of advanced materials. While these platforms are proving their effectiveness in producing advanced materials with targeted functionalities and physical properties, a large margin of improvement still exists. Streamlining materials integration into components and to safe and sustainable products is one example challenge in order to enable rupture technology. Another challenge is that of geographical concentration of MAPs that practically excludes a substantial fraction of research labs and tech-companies in Europe from contributing and benefiting from such platforms. Finally, next generation material science researchers need to develop new skills to be able to integrate such systemic and automated approach into their future R&D framework. To this end, EU-MACE will become an ecosystem for accelerated materials development at the user end, gathering researchers and stakeholders with state-of-the-art digital and material competences combined with the market/social pull.  Our inclusive & systemic approach will lay the foundation for a future centre of excellence for advanced functional materials to assist transition toward a united and stronger EU.

The AMALIA project, initiated by the European Defence Agency, focuses on developing lightweight ballistic armour using auxetic metallic structures produced through additive manufacturing. Auxetic materials, which expand laterally when stretched and become denser under compression, offer superior energy absorption in high-impact scenarios. The project aims to design, optimize, and manufacture armour components using advanced metallic alloys tailored for 3D printing, significantly enhancing protection while reducing weight. This approach supports next-generation armour systems for military platforms.

INDUSAC’s main objective is to develop and validate a state-of-the-art, Industry-Academia collaboration (IAC) mechanism for quick, challenge-driven, human-centred co-creation. It aims to build upon pre-existing IAC mechanisms such as EIT KICs and to facilitate a simple, user-friendly co-creation process that allows to develop solutions that clearly address the needs and interests of companies, students, and researchers in the EU, with special attention to widening and associated countries. Of a highly digitalised nature, the project pilots the mechanism’s two main components: a methodology developed by applying human-centred design principles and an online platform aimed at connecting stakeholders from the industry-academia ecosystem and at supporting them throughout their co-creation journey. 

The ANTISOLVO project focused on developing a novel antisolvent precipitation process to recover rare earth elements from end-of-life Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets. By leveraging green solvents and selective precipitation techniques, the project aimed to create a more sustainable and efficient method for recycling critical materials used in clean technologies like wind turbines and electric vehicles.

In SunToChem the latest knowledge in density functional theory (DFT), particle crystallization mechanisms, and reactor design are combined to promote the understanding of key parameters in photocatalytic water splitting and provide guidelines for preparation of MTiO3 (M=Sr, Ba, Ti) perovskite photocatalyst particles by design. This concept includes enhancement of photocatalytic activity of defined-shape perovskite particles through improvement of the spatial separation of photogenerated charges on the same particle by means of ferroelectricity/flexoelectricity or different polarity of the facets due to different orientation/termination, and improvement of solar light absorption by doping. The main objectives of the project include band gap and crystal facet engineering by DFT to guide the development of the perovskite particles with defined size, shape, exposed facets, and terminations and evaluation of the particles for the H2 generation from photocatalytic water splitting reaction.