Andrea Caviglia (Quantum Nanoscience), Associate Professor at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, will be awarded a Proof of Concept grant by the European Research Council. He is one of sixty ERC grant holders that are set to receive top-up funding to explore the commercial or innovation potential of the results of their EU-funded research.

The project Andrea Caviglia will work on with this grant is called ‘H2OXIDES’. It relates to the development of sensitive hydrogen sensors. Hydrogen will be a key element of our future decarbonised economy as a sustainable energy vector. Unfortunately, the high flammability of air-hydrogen mixtures and the minimal input power required to trigger combustion pose serious safety concerns.  Thus, in the future hydrogen economy, efficient hydrogen sensors will be a critical element.

The light nature of the hydrogen molecule and its high diffusivity makes detection and leakage-control challenging, requiring improvements of the material platforms used for sensing.

Within the H2OXIDES project, the TU Delft group aims to develop such high quality materials and sensors.

About the ERC and the PoC grant

The European Research Council, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premiere European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. Every year, it selects and funds the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects in Europe. The ERC also strives to attract top researchers from anywhere in the world to come to work in Europe.

Proof of Concept grants, worth up to €150,000 each and open to ERC grant holders, can be used, for example, to establish intellectual property rights, investigate business opportunities or conduct technical validation.