The European Union has awarded €3.7 million to a research project at University College Dublin (UCD) which is exploring how liquid metals could be used as catalysts.
Electrocatalysis is a process of causing a chemical conversion by driving electricity through a metal.
It can be used, for example, to create so-called green hydrogen which uses electricity to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The electricity passes through metals in solid form, like platinum for making hydrogen or copper for making ammonia.
But what if you used liquid metals instead?
That’s the basis of a UCD research project working with the Queensland University of Technology School of Chemistry & Physics in Australia.
The theory is that liquid metal could be used to create a new generation of catalysts that can “adapt, self-heal and be controlled.”
The project will investigate whether liquid metal could be used to produce ammonia and urea more sustainably and to break down PFAS “forever chemicals” that contaminate water supplies.
The EU’s European Research Council (ERC) has now awarded the project €3.7 million to further the project.
“Many of the technologies needed for a sustainable future depend on discovering better catalysts. Liquid metal electrocatalysis is an emerging field that offers entirely new possibilities because these materials can adapt and regenerate themselves while operating,” said Professor Anthony O’Mullane from Queensland university.
“This ERC Advanced Grant provides the freedom and scale needed to explore these ideas at a fundamental level with the potential to influence clean energy, sustainable manufacturing and environmental remediation.”
The ERC Advanced Grants give senior researchers the opportunity to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven projects that could lead to major scientific breakthroughs.
Nearly €840 million is being distributed to support Europe’s leading researchers, including five Irish-led projects.
Two other projects based at UCD will each receive €2.5 million from the EU.
One in the field of medical research, will look at the potential for applying the technology that went into covid vaccines to other types of medicines.
The researchers believe there is potential for developing treatments for liver disease, cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.
The third project in the School of English, Drama and Film will consider anti-colonialism from a new angle by carrying out what is believed to be the first systematic analysis of the newspapers, journals, and magazines of nineteenth and early twentieth-century in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, two projects at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) will also get EU funding.
Professor Richard Layte continues his work into social inequality and its impact on child development.
Meanwhile, at the School of Psychology, they plan to further their analysis on visual cognition in infants, as well as by machines.
Earlier this year, neuroscientists from Trinity discovered that babies as young as two months old are able to categorise distinct objects in their brains – much earlier than previously thought.
In total the ERC is funding 319 projects with researchers involved, not just in the EU, but also Australia, Canada, the US and UK.
“These projects embody the spirit of scientific exploration that drives progress,” Ekaterina Zaharieva, said European Commissioner for Startups, Research, and Innovation.
“The increase in applications from researchers based outside Europe shows that initiatives such as ‘Choose Europe’, aimed at attracting and keeping talent, are helping to reinforce Europe’s appeal to top scientific talent worldwide.’