Project acronym AGRISCENTS
Project Scents and sensibility in agriculture: exploiting specificity in herbivore- and pathogen-induced plant volatiles for real-time crop monitoring
Researcher (PI) Theodoor Turlings
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE NEUCHATEL
Country Switzerland
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Plants typically release large quantities of volatiles in response to attack by herbivores or pathogens. I may claim to have contributed to various breakthroughs in this research field, including the discovery that the volatile blends induced by different attackers are astonishingly specific, resulting in characteristic, readily distinguishable odour blends. Using maize as our model plant, I wish to take several leaps forward in our understanding of this signal specificity and use this knowledge to develop sensors for the real-time detection of crop pests and diseases. For this, three interconnected work-packages will aim to:
• Develop chemical analytical techniques and statistical models to decipher the odorous vocabulary of plants, and to create a complete inventory of “odour-prints” for a wide range of herbivore-plant and pathogen-plant combinations, including simultaneous infestations.
• Develop and optimize nano-mechanical sensors for the detection of specific plant volatile mixtures. For this, we will initially adapt a prototype sensor that has been successfully developed for the detection of cancer-related volatiles in human breath.
• Genetically manipulate maize plants to release a unique blend of root-produced volatiles upon herbivory. For this, we will engineer gene cassettes that combine recently identified P450 (CYP) genes from poplar with inducible, root-specific promoters from maize. This will result in maize plants that, in response to pest attack, release easy-to-detect aldoximes and nitriles from their roots.
In short, by investigating and manipulating the specificity of inducible odour blends we will generate the necessary knowhow to develop a novel odour-detection device. The envisioned sensor technology will permit real-time monitoring of the pests and enable farmers to apply crop protection treatments at the right time and in the right place.
Summary
Plants typically release large quantities of volatiles in response to attack by herbivores or pathogens. I may claim to have contributed to various breakthroughs in this research field, including the discovery that the volatile blends induced by different attackers are astonishingly specific, resulting in characteristic, readily distinguishable odour blends. Using maize as our model plant, I wish to take several leaps forward in our understanding of this signal specificity and use this knowledge to develop sensors for the real-time detection of crop pests and diseases. For this, three interconnected work-packages will aim to:
• Develop chemical analytical techniques and statistical models to decipher the odorous vocabulary of plants, and to create a complete inventory of “odour-prints” for a wide range of herbivore-plant and pathogen-plant combinations, including simultaneous infestations.
• Develop and optimize nano-mechanical sensors for the detection of specific plant volatile mixtures. For this, we will initially adapt a prototype sensor that has been successfully developed for the detection of cancer-related volatiles in human breath.
• Genetically manipulate maize plants to release a unique blend of root-produced volatiles upon herbivory. For this, we will engineer gene cassettes that combine recently identified P450 (CYP) genes from poplar with inducible, root-specific promoters from maize. This will result in maize plants that, in response to pest attack, release easy-to-detect aldoximes and nitriles from their roots.
In short, by investigating and manipulating the specificity of inducible odour blends we will generate the necessary knowhow to develop a novel odour-detection device. The envisioned sensor technology will permit real-time monitoring of the pests and enable farmers to apply crop protection treatments at the right time and in the right place.
Max ERC Funding
2 498 086 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
Project acronym AlgoRNN
Project Recurrent Neural Networks and Related Machines That Learn Algorithms
Researcher (PI) Juergen Schmidhuber
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DELLA SVIZZERA ITALIANA
Country Switzerland
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE6, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are general parallel-sequential computers. Some learn their programs or weights. Our supervised Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) RNNs were the first to win pattern recognition contests, and recently enabled best known results in speech and handwriting recognition, machine translation, etc. They are now available to billions of users through the world's most valuable public companies including Google and Apple. Nevertheless, in lots of real-world tasks RNNs do not yet live up to their full potential. Although universal in theory, in practice they fail to learn important types of algorithms. This ERC project will go far beyond today's best RNNs through novel RNN-like systems that address some of the biggest open RNN problems and hottest RNN research topics: (1) How can RNNs learn to control (through internal spotlights of attention) separate large short-memory structures such as sub-networks with fast weights, to improve performance on many natural short-term memory-intensive tasks which are currently hard to learn by RNNs, such as answering detailed questions on recently observed videos? (2) How can such RNN-like systems metalearn entire learning algorithms that outperform the original learning algorithms? (3) How to achieve efficient transfer learning from one RNN-learned set of problem-solving programs to new RNN programs solving new tasks? In other words, how can one RNN-like system actively learn to exploit algorithmic information contained in the programs running on another? We will test our systems existing benchmarks, and create new, more challenging multi-task benchmarks. This will be supported by a rather cheap, GPU-based mini-brain for implementing large RNNs.
Summary
Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are general parallel-sequential computers. Some learn their programs or weights. Our supervised Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) RNNs were the first to win pattern recognition contests, and recently enabled best known results in speech and handwriting recognition, machine translation, etc. They are now available to billions of users through the world's most valuable public companies including Google and Apple. Nevertheless, in lots of real-world tasks RNNs do not yet live up to their full potential. Although universal in theory, in practice they fail to learn important types of algorithms. This ERC project will go far beyond today's best RNNs through novel RNN-like systems that address some of the biggest open RNN problems and hottest RNN research topics: (1) How can RNNs learn to control (through internal spotlights of attention) separate large short-memory structures such as sub-networks with fast weights, to improve performance on many natural short-term memory-intensive tasks which are currently hard to learn by RNNs, such as answering detailed questions on recently observed videos? (2) How can such RNN-like systems metalearn entire learning algorithms that outperform the original learning algorithms? (3) How to achieve efficient transfer learning from one RNN-learned set of problem-solving programs to new RNN programs solving new tasks? In other words, how can one RNN-like system actively learn to exploit algorithmic information contained in the programs running on another? We will test our systems existing benchmarks, and create new, more challenging multi-task benchmarks. This will be supported by a rather cheap, GPU-based mini-brain for implementing large RNNs.
Max ERC Funding
2 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30
Project acronym ALICE
Project Strange Mirrors, Unsuspected Lessons: Leading Europe to a new way of sharing the world experiences
Researcher (PI) Boaventura De Sousa Santos
Host Institution (HI) CENTRO DE ESTUDOS SOCIAIS
Country Portugal
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2010-AdG_20100407
Summary Europe sits uncomfortably on the idea that there are no political and cultural alternatives credible enough to respond to the current uneasiness or malaise caused by both a world that is more and more non-European and a Europe that increasingly questions what is European about itself. This project will develop a new grounded theoretical paradigm for contemporary Europe based on two key ideas: the understanding of the world by far exceeds the European understanding of the world; social, political and institutional transformation in Europe may benefit from innovations taking place in regions and countries with which Europe is increasingly interdependent. I will pursue this objective focusing on four main interconnected topics: democratizing democracy, intercultural constitutionalism, the other economy, human rights (right to health in particular).
In a sense that the European challenges are unique but, in one way or another, are being experienced in different corners of the world. The novelty resides in bringing new ideas and experiences into the European conversation, show their relevance to our current uncertainties and aspirations and thereby contribute to face them with new intellectual and political resources. The usefulness and relevance of non-European conceptions and experiences un-thinking the conventional knowledge through two epistemological devices I have developed: the ecology of knowledges and intercultural translation. By resorting to them I will show that there are alternatives but they cannot be made credible and powerful if we go on relying on the modes of theoretical and political thinking that have dominated so far. In other words, the claim put forward by and worked through this project is that in Europe we don’t need alternatives but rather an alternative thinking of alternatives.
Summary
Europe sits uncomfortably on the idea that there are no political and cultural alternatives credible enough to respond to the current uneasiness or malaise caused by both a world that is more and more non-European and a Europe that increasingly questions what is European about itself. This project will develop a new grounded theoretical paradigm for contemporary Europe based on two key ideas: the understanding of the world by far exceeds the European understanding of the world; social, political and institutional transformation in Europe may benefit from innovations taking place in regions and countries with which Europe is increasingly interdependent. I will pursue this objective focusing on four main interconnected topics: democratizing democracy, intercultural constitutionalism, the other economy, human rights (right to health in particular).
In a sense that the European challenges are unique but, in one way or another, are being experienced in different corners of the world. The novelty resides in bringing new ideas and experiences into the European conversation, show their relevance to our current uncertainties and aspirations and thereby contribute to face them with new intellectual and political resources. The usefulness and relevance of non-European conceptions and experiences un-thinking the conventional knowledge through two epistemological devices I have developed: the ecology of knowledges and intercultural translation. By resorting to them I will show that there are alternatives but they cannot be made credible and powerful if we go on relying on the modes of theoretical and political thinking that have dominated so far. In other words, the claim put forward by and worked through this project is that in Europe we don’t need alternatives but rather an alternative thinking of alternatives.
Max ERC Funding
2 423 140 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-07-01, End date: 2016-12-31
Project acronym AMIMOS
Project Agile MIMO Systems for Communications, Biomedicine, and Defense
Researcher (PI) Bjorn Ottersten
Host Institution (HI) KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN
Country Sweden
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE7, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary This proposal targets the emerging frontier research field of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems along with several innovative and somewhat unconventional applications of such systems. The use of arrays of transmitters and receivers will have a profound impact on future medical imaging/therapy systems, radar systems, and radio communication networks. Multiple transmitters provide a tremendous versatility and allow waveforms to be adapted temporally and spatially to environmental conditions. This is useful for individually tailored illumination of human tissue in biomedical imaging or ultrasound therapy. In radar systems, multiple transmit beams can be formed simultaneously via separate waveform designs allowing accurate target classification. In a wireless communication system, multiple communication signals can be directed to one or more users at the same time on the same frequency carrier. In addition, multiple receivers can be used in the above applications to provide increased detection performance, interference rejection, and improved estimation accuracy. The joint modelling, analysis, and design of these multidimensional transmit and receive schemes form the core of this research proposal. Ultimately, our research aims at developing the fundamental tools that will allow the design of wireless communication systems with an order-of-magnitude higher capacity at a lower cost than today; of ultrasound therapy systems maximizing delivered power while reducing treatment duration and unwanted illumination; and of distributed aperture multi-beam radars allowing more effective target location, identification, and classification. Europe has several successful industries that are active in biomedical imaging/therapy, radar systems, and wireless communications. The future success of these sectors critically depends on the ability to innovate and integrate new technology.
Summary
This proposal targets the emerging frontier research field of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems along with several innovative and somewhat unconventional applications of such systems. The use of arrays of transmitters and receivers will have a profound impact on future medical imaging/therapy systems, radar systems, and radio communication networks. Multiple transmitters provide a tremendous versatility and allow waveforms to be adapted temporally and spatially to environmental conditions. This is useful for individually tailored illumination of human tissue in biomedical imaging or ultrasound therapy. In radar systems, multiple transmit beams can be formed simultaneously via separate waveform designs allowing accurate target classification. In a wireless communication system, multiple communication signals can be directed to one or more users at the same time on the same frequency carrier. In addition, multiple receivers can be used in the above applications to provide increased detection performance, interference rejection, and improved estimation accuracy. The joint modelling, analysis, and design of these multidimensional transmit and receive schemes form the core of this research proposal. Ultimately, our research aims at developing the fundamental tools that will allow the design of wireless communication systems with an order-of-magnitude higher capacity at a lower cost than today; of ultrasound therapy systems maximizing delivered power while reducing treatment duration and unwanted illumination; and of distributed aperture multi-beam radars allowing more effective target location, identification, and classification. Europe has several successful industries that are active in biomedical imaging/therapy, radar systems, and wireless communications. The future success of these sectors critically depends on the ability to innovate and integrate new technology.
Max ERC Funding
1 872 720 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-01-01, End date: 2013-12-31
Project acronym ANALYTICAL SOCIOLOGY
Project Analytical Sociology: Theoretical Developments and Empirical Research
Researcher (PI) Mats Peter Hedstroem
Host Institution (HI) LINKOPINGS UNIVERSITET
Country Sweden
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH2, ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
Summary This proposal outlines a highly ambitious and path-breaking research program. Through a tightly integrated package of basic theoretical work, strategic empirical research projects, international workshops, and a large number of publications in leading journals, the research program seeks to move sociology in a more analytical direction.
One part of the research program focuses on the epistemological and methodological foundations of analytical sociology, an approach to sociological theory and research that currently receives considerable attention in the international scholarly community. This work will be organized around two core themes: (1) the principles of mechanism-based explanations and (2) the micro-macro link.
The empirical research analyzes in great detail the ethnic, gender, and socio-economic segregation of key interaction domains in Sweden using the approach of analytical sociology. The interaction domains focused upon are schools, workplaces and neighborhoods; domains where people spend a considerable part of their time, where much of the social interaction between people takes place, where identities are formed, and where important resources are distributed.
Large-scale longitudinal micro data on the entire Swedish population, unique longitudinal data on social networks within school classes, and various agent-based simulation techniques, are used to better understand the processes through which schools, workplaces and neighborhoods become segregated along various dimensions, how the domains interact with one another, and how the structure and extent of segregation affects diverse social and economic outcomes.
Summary
This proposal outlines a highly ambitious and path-breaking research program. Through a tightly integrated package of basic theoretical work, strategic empirical research projects, international workshops, and a large number of publications in leading journals, the research program seeks to move sociology in a more analytical direction.
One part of the research program focuses on the epistemological and methodological foundations of analytical sociology, an approach to sociological theory and research that currently receives considerable attention in the international scholarly community. This work will be organized around two core themes: (1) the principles of mechanism-based explanations and (2) the micro-macro link.
The empirical research analyzes in great detail the ethnic, gender, and socio-economic segregation of key interaction domains in Sweden using the approach of analytical sociology. The interaction domains focused upon are schools, workplaces and neighborhoods; domains where people spend a considerable part of their time, where much of the social interaction between people takes place, where identities are formed, and where important resources are distributed.
Large-scale longitudinal micro data on the entire Swedish population, unique longitudinal data on social networks within school classes, and various agent-based simulation techniques, are used to better understand the processes through which schools, workplaces and neighborhoods become segregated along various dimensions, how the domains interact with one another, and how the structure and extent of segregation affects diverse social and economic outcomes.
Max ERC Funding
1 745 098 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym AOC
Project Adversary-Oriented Computing
Researcher (PI) Rachid Guerraoui
Host Institution (HI) ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE
Country Switzerland
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE6, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "Recent technological evolutions, including the cloud, the multicore, the social and the mobiles ones, are turning computing ubiquitously distributed. Yet, building high-assurance distributed programs is notoriously challenging. One of the main reasons is that these systems usually seek to achieve several goals at the same time. In short, they need to be efficient, responding effectively in various average-case conditions, as well as reliable, behaving correctly in severe, worst-case conditions. As a consequence, they typically intermingle different strategies: each to cope with some specific condition, e.g., with or without node failures, message losses, time-outs, contention, cache misses,
over-sizing, malicious attacks, etc. The resulting programs end up hard to design, prove, verify, implement, test and debug. Not surprisingly, there are anecdotal evidences of the fragility of the most celebrated distributed systems.
The goal of this project is to contribute to building high-assurance distributed programs by introducing a new dimension for separating and isolating their concerns, as well as a new scheme for composing and reusing them in a modular manner. In short, the project will explore the inherent power and limitations of a novel paradigm, Adversary-Oriented Computing (AOC). Sub-programs, each implementing a specific strategy to cope with a given adversary, modelling a specific working condition, are designed, proved, verified, implemented, tested and debugged independently. They are then composed, possibly dynamically, as black-boxes within the same global program. The AOC project is ambitious and it seeks to fundamentally revisit the way distributed algorithms are designed and distributed systems are implemented. The gain expected in comparison with today's approaches is substantial, and I believe it will be proportional to the degree of difficulty of the distributed problem at hand."
Summary
"Recent technological evolutions, including the cloud, the multicore, the social and the mobiles ones, are turning computing ubiquitously distributed. Yet, building high-assurance distributed programs is notoriously challenging. One of the main reasons is that these systems usually seek to achieve several goals at the same time. In short, they need to be efficient, responding effectively in various average-case conditions, as well as reliable, behaving correctly in severe, worst-case conditions. As a consequence, they typically intermingle different strategies: each to cope with some specific condition, e.g., with or without node failures, message losses, time-outs, contention, cache misses,
over-sizing, malicious attacks, etc. The resulting programs end up hard to design, prove, verify, implement, test and debug. Not surprisingly, there are anecdotal evidences of the fragility of the most celebrated distributed systems.
The goal of this project is to contribute to building high-assurance distributed programs by introducing a new dimension for separating and isolating their concerns, as well as a new scheme for composing and reusing them in a modular manner. In short, the project will explore the inherent power and limitations of a novel paradigm, Adversary-Oriented Computing (AOC). Sub-programs, each implementing a specific strategy to cope with a given adversary, modelling a specific working condition, are designed, proved, verified, implemented, tested and debugged independently. They are then composed, possibly dynamically, as black-boxes within the same global program. The AOC project is ambitious and it seeks to fundamentally revisit the way distributed algorithms are designed and distributed systems are implemented. The gain expected in comparison with today's approaches is substantial, and I believe it will be proportional to the degree of difficulty of the distributed problem at hand."
Max ERC Funding
2 147 012 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-06-01, End date: 2019-05-31
Project acronym APPROXNP
Project Approximation of NP-hard optimization problems
Researcher (PI) Johan Haastad
Host Institution (HI) KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN
Country Sweden
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE6, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary The proposed project aims to create a center of excellence that aims at understanding the approximability of NP-hard optimization problems. In particular, for central problems like vertex cover, coloring of graphs, and various constraint satisfaction problems we want to study upper and lower bounds on how well they can be approximated in polynomial time. Many existing strong results are based on what is known as the Unique Games Conjecture (UGC) and a significant part of the project will be devoted to studying this conjecture. We expect that a major step needed to be taken in this process is to further develop the understanding of Boolean functions on the Boolean hypercube. We anticipate that the tools needed for this will come in the form of harmonic analysis which in its turn will rely on the corresponding results in the analysis of functions over the domain of real numbers.
Summary
The proposed project aims to create a center of excellence that aims at understanding the approximability of NP-hard optimization problems. In particular, for central problems like vertex cover, coloring of graphs, and various constraint satisfaction problems we want to study upper and lower bounds on how well they can be approximated in polynomial time. Many existing strong results are based on what is known as the Unique Games Conjecture (UGC) and a significant part of the project will be devoted to studying this conjecture. We expect that a major step needed to be taken in this process is to further develop the understanding of Boolean functions on the Boolean hypercube. We anticipate that the tools needed for this will come in the form of harmonic analysis which in its turn will rely on the corresponding results in the analysis of functions over the domain of real numbers.
Max ERC Funding
2 376 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-01-01, End date: 2014-12-31
Project acronym ATLAS
Project Bioengineered autonomous cell-biomaterials devices for generating humanised micro-tissues for regenerative medicine
Researcher (PI) Joao Felipe Colardelle da Luz Mano
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDADE DE AVEIRO
Country Portugal
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2014-ADG
Summary New generations of devices for tissue engineering (TE) should rationalize better the physical and biochemical cues operating in tandem during native regeneration, in particular at the scale/organizational-level of the stem cell niche. The understanding and the deconstruction of these factors (e.g. multiple cell types exchanging both paracrine and direct signals, structural and chemical arrangement of the extra-cellular matrix, mechanical signals…) should be then incorporated into the design of truly biomimetic biomaterials. ATLAS proposes rather unique toolboxes combining smart biomaterials and cells for the ground-breaking advances of engineering fully time-self-regulated complex 2D and 3D devices, able to adjust the cascade of processes leading to faster high-quality new tissue formation with minimum pre-processing of cells. Versatile biomaterials based on marine-origin macromolecules will be used, namely in the supramolecular assembly of instructive multilayers as nanostratified building-blocks for engineer such structures. The backbone of these biopolymers will be equipped with a variety of (bio)chemical elements permitting: post-processing chemistry and micro-patterning, specific/non-specific cell attachment, and cell-controlled degradation. Aiming at being applied in bone TE, ATLAS will integrate cells from different units of tissue physiology, namely bone and hematopoietic basic elements and consider the interactions between the immune and skeletal systems. These ingredients will permit to architect innovative films with high-level dialogue control with cells, but in particular sophisticated quasi-closed 3D capsules able to compartmentalise such components in a “globe-like” organization, providing local and long-range order for in vitro microtissue development and function. Such hybrid devices could be used in more generalised front-edge applications, including as disease models for drug discovery or test new therapies in vitro.
Summary
New generations of devices for tissue engineering (TE) should rationalize better the physical and biochemical cues operating in tandem during native regeneration, in particular at the scale/organizational-level of the stem cell niche. The understanding and the deconstruction of these factors (e.g. multiple cell types exchanging both paracrine and direct signals, structural and chemical arrangement of the extra-cellular matrix, mechanical signals…) should be then incorporated into the design of truly biomimetic biomaterials. ATLAS proposes rather unique toolboxes combining smart biomaterials and cells for the ground-breaking advances of engineering fully time-self-regulated complex 2D and 3D devices, able to adjust the cascade of processes leading to faster high-quality new tissue formation with minimum pre-processing of cells. Versatile biomaterials based on marine-origin macromolecules will be used, namely in the supramolecular assembly of instructive multilayers as nanostratified building-blocks for engineer such structures. The backbone of these biopolymers will be equipped with a variety of (bio)chemical elements permitting: post-processing chemistry and micro-patterning, specific/non-specific cell attachment, and cell-controlled degradation. Aiming at being applied in bone TE, ATLAS will integrate cells from different units of tissue physiology, namely bone and hematopoietic basic elements and consider the interactions between the immune and skeletal systems. These ingredients will permit to architect innovative films with high-level dialogue control with cells, but in particular sophisticated quasi-closed 3D capsules able to compartmentalise such components in a “globe-like” organization, providing local and long-range order for in vitro microtissue development and function. Such hybrid devices could be used in more generalised front-edge applications, including as disease models for drug discovery or test new therapies in vitro.
Max ERC Funding
2 498 988 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-12-01, End date: 2021-10-31
Project acronym BI-DSC
Project Building Integrated Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
Researcher (PI) Adelio Miguel Magalhaes Mendes
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO
Country Portugal
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary In the last decade, solar and photovoltaic (PV) technologies have emerged as a potentially major technology for power generation in the world. So far the PV field has been dominated by silicon devices, even though this technology is still expensive.Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) are an important type of thin-film photovoltaics due to their potential for low-cost fabrication and versatile applications, and because their aesthetic appearance, semi-transparency and different color possibilities.This advantageous characteristic makes DSC the first choice for building integrated photovoltaics.Despite their great potential, DSCs for building applications are still not available at commercial level. However, to bring DSCs to a marketable product several developments are still needed and the present project targets to give relevant answers to three key limitations: encapsulation, glass substrate enhanced electrical conductivity and more efficient and low-cost raw-materials. Recently, the proponent successfully addressed the hermetic devices sealing by developing a laser-assisted glass sealing procedure.Thus, BI-DSC proposal envisages the development of DSC modules 30x30cm2, containing four individual cells, and their incorporation in a 1m2 double glass sheet arrangement for BIPV with an energy efficiency of at least 9% and a lifetime of 20 years. Additionally, aiming at enhanced efficiency of the final device and decreased total costs of DSCs manufacturing, new materials will be also pursued. The following inner-components were identified as critical: carbon-based counter-electrode; carbon quantum-dots and hierarchically TiO2 photoelectrode. It is then clear that this project is divided into two research though parallel directions: a fundamental research line, contributing to the development of the new generation DSC technology; while a more applied research line targets the development of a DSC functional module that can be used to pave the way for its industrialization.
Summary
In the last decade, solar and photovoltaic (PV) technologies have emerged as a potentially major technology for power generation in the world. So far the PV field has been dominated by silicon devices, even though this technology is still expensive.Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) are an important type of thin-film photovoltaics due to their potential for low-cost fabrication and versatile applications, and because their aesthetic appearance, semi-transparency and different color possibilities.This advantageous characteristic makes DSC the first choice for building integrated photovoltaics.Despite their great potential, DSCs for building applications are still not available at commercial level. However, to bring DSCs to a marketable product several developments are still needed and the present project targets to give relevant answers to three key limitations: encapsulation, glass substrate enhanced electrical conductivity and more efficient and low-cost raw-materials. Recently, the proponent successfully addressed the hermetic devices sealing by developing a laser-assisted glass sealing procedure.Thus, BI-DSC proposal envisages the development of DSC modules 30x30cm2, containing four individual cells, and their incorporation in a 1m2 double glass sheet arrangement for BIPV with an energy efficiency of at least 9% and a lifetime of 20 years. Additionally, aiming at enhanced efficiency of the final device and decreased total costs of DSCs manufacturing, new materials will be also pursued. The following inner-components were identified as critical: carbon-based counter-electrode; carbon quantum-dots and hierarchically TiO2 photoelectrode. It is then clear that this project is divided into two research though parallel directions: a fundamental research line, contributing to the development of the new generation DSC technology; while a more applied research line targets the development of a DSC functional module that can be used to pave the way for its industrialization.
Max ERC Funding
1 989 300 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-08-31
Project acronym BIOGEOS
Project Bio-mediated Geo-material Strengthening for engineering applications
Researcher (PI) Lyesse LALOUI
Host Institution (HI) ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE
Country Switzerland
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE8, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Given the increasing scarcity of suitable land for development, soil strengthening technologies have emerged in the past decade and go hand-in-hand with the implementation of the majority of foundation solutions. The goal is to alter the soil structure and its mechanical properties for ultimately securing the integrity of structures. The BIOGEOS project puts the focus on bio-mediated soil improvement, which falls within the broader framework of multi-physical processes in geo-mechanics. The goal of the project is to engineer a novel, natural material under controlled processes, for ultimately providing solutions to real problems in the geo-engineering and geo-energy fields by advancing knowledge around complex multi-physical phenomena in porous media. The bio-cemented geo-material, which is produced by carefully integrating the metabolic activity of native soil bacteria, is produced through the bio-mineralization of calcite bonds, which act as natural cementation for endowing the subsurface with real cohesion and increased resistance. A principal characteristic of the project is its multi-scale approach through advanced experimentation to identify the main physical mechanisms involved in the formation of the bio-mineralized bonds and their behaviour under mechanical loading. The development of such a bio-mediated technology will lead to innovative applications in a series of engineering problems such as the restoration of weak foundations, seismic retrofitting, erosion protection, and the enhancement of heat transfer in thermo-active geo-structures. The project foresees to adopt multiple loading conditions for its laboratory characterization and ultimately pass to the large experimental scale. BIOGEOS further aims to provide new knowledge around the way we perceive materials in relation with their micro-structure by implementing state-of-the-art inspection of the material’s structure in 3D space and subsequent prediction of their behaviour through numerical tools.
Summary
Given the increasing scarcity of suitable land for development, soil strengthening technologies have emerged in the past decade and go hand-in-hand with the implementation of the majority of foundation solutions. The goal is to alter the soil structure and its mechanical properties for ultimately securing the integrity of structures. The BIOGEOS project puts the focus on bio-mediated soil improvement, which falls within the broader framework of multi-physical processes in geo-mechanics. The goal of the project is to engineer a novel, natural material under controlled processes, for ultimately providing solutions to real problems in the geo-engineering and geo-energy fields by advancing knowledge around complex multi-physical phenomena in porous media. The bio-cemented geo-material, which is produced by carefully integrating the metabolic activity of native soil bacteria, is produced through the bio-mineralization of calcite bonds, which act as natural cementation for endowing the subsurface with real cohesion and increased resistance. A principal characteristic of the project is its multi-scale approach through advanced experimentation to identify the main physical mechanisms involved in the formation of the bio-mineralized bonds and their behaviour under mechanical loading. The development of such a bio-mediated technology will lead to innovative applications in a series of engineering problems such as the restoration of weak foundations, seismic retrofitting, erosion protection, and the enhancement of heat transfer in thermo-active geo-structures. The project foresees to adopt multiple loading conditions for its laboratory characterization and ultimately pass to the large experimental scale. BIOGEOS further aims to provide new knowledge around the way we perceive materials in relation with their micro-structure by implementing state-of-the-art inspection of the material’s structure in 3D space and subsequent prediction of their behaviour through numerical tools.
Max ERC Funding
2 497 115 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-11-01, End date: 2024-04-30
