Transformative advances in product formulation are required to meet the demand for sustainability across a wide range of EU-priority industrial areas. Colloidal gels – complex, out-of-equilibrium soft matter systems – are core components in many of the formulations encountered therein, including building materials (e.g., cement), energy materials (e.g., batteries and fuel cells), consumer care and food products, and medicine. Current industrial practice requires delicate balancing between thermodynamic parameters (composition and interactions), quenching kinetics, and processing conditions to achieve gel structures with the desired material performance (e.g., mechanical, thermal, or electrical properties). Without a robust physical understanding of how the microstructure can be controlled and how this links to material properties, this balancing remains limited to trial and error. Recent advances in colloidal-gel physics strongly imply that the rational design of colloidal gel properties is within reach. This design is based on tuning gel microstructure via external stimuli, such as shear, ultrasound, and (magnetic/electric) fields, and the addition of non-Brownian inclusions. The CoCoGel doctoral network will enable the translation from the current academic state of the art to industrial practice, focusing on these routes to controlling microstructure. We will bring together 6 academic and 6 industrial partners – experts in a range of experimental, computational, and theoretical techniques – who can realize the creation of new sustainable materials and production processes via these routes. Key to the success of our industrial doctoral training network is a deepening and extending of existing collaborations, as well as the training of a new generation of researchers with both multi-disciplinary expertise in soft materials and practical experience engaging with industry. These will drive further sustainable development over a wide range of European industries.

The core priorities of Horizon 2020 - Work Programme 2018-2020 “Secure, clean and efficient energy” are renewable energy, smart energy systems, energy efficiency, and carbon capture utilization and storage. In-line with these priorities a scalable electric power source is produced by Serenergy A/S. The product can be used for applications both off- or on-grid, and is based on reformed methanol high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT PEMFC) system. Constant improvements and innovations of the product require strong R&D and quality control (QC) activities. This applied research project (ASCEND) will address challenges and issues encountered in the core components of the HT PEMFC stack, namely the processes and phenomena inside the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and its subcomponents. ASCEND aims to develop diagnostic tools, to better understand and further improve the HT PEMFC stack, by introducing a newly designed test station. This station will be used to test prototype MEAs (and various subcomponents) with the goal of obtaining relevant data and feedback suggestions for improving materials and processes used in production and assembling of MEAs and stacks. The purpose of this test station will be twofold: to carry out QC and to support R&D activities related to stack development and fuel cell functionality and durability. For successful implementation of this new paradigm several research objectives have been set, which will be addressed by using a variety of advanced experimental techniques and methodologies. This new paradigm will allow studying current and novel materials and/or components well beyond the completion of this project and enable collaborations in other research projects and thus faster transition to new state-of-art materials or components. All of the above will contribute to the optimization and cost reduction of the product (HT PEMFC system) thus creating more efficient, environmentally friendly and affordable power source.

Mobility electrification plays a critical role in the economy decarbonisation, and we are on the edge of an industrial revolution linked to the massive deployment of the electric vehicle (EV). Their technologies readiness level has significantly increased, and the EV can now replace the thermal vehicle in terms of service provided, supporting the EU decarbonisation effort. Besides the reduction of critical material, and decrease of cost, optimising the lifetime of the EV components is essential to ease their adoption, especially the powertrain sub-components that have the major impact on EV cost and CO2 emissions. A new-generation of diagnostic and prognostic systems for the powertrain will be a game changer to ensure EV adoption, because they will estimate its degradation, anticipate failures, and ease reparability thus extending its lifespan. With significant improvement of sensors, complex modelling and data processing methods such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), predictive maintenance (PdM) has gained a lot of interest in different fields. Development of PdM methods for the sub-components of the EV powertrain (battery, fuel cell, e-motor, power electronics) is at the heart of TEAMING. Thanks to international staff exchanges, TEAMING will significantly improve the different facets of the PdM solution: sensors, modelling, Digital Twins, adapted AI, and Physics-Informed Machine Learning methods are at the centre of the studies and present a major potential in term of innovation. TEAMING will advance PdM system to better diagnose the internal physical phenomena of the different EV powertrain components and optimise their performance, lifetime, safety, and reliability.”