TU Dresden chemist Prof. Stefan Kaskel is awarded funding by the European Research Council (ERC). He will receive an ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) grant to explore the design and understanding of dynamic porous materials, which can adapt their pore size depending on the environment. In particular, the responsiveness towards gases is potentially essential for gas storage, separation and sensors. The PoC DynaDIFF will develop an innovative analysis tool for the discovery of responsive porous materials.

"We develop porous materials for applications in selective gas adsorption, separation, gas storage, and battery applications", explains Prof. Kaskel. "Dynamic porous solids are capable of gas manipulation, uptake, release, gas pressure regulation and amplification, which is important for pneumatic systems."

About the funding

ERC Proof of Concept grants, endowed with € 150,000 each, can be used, for example, to explore business opportunities, prepare patent applications or verify the practical viability of scientific concepts. In 2020, a total of 166 projects have been funded.

ERC President Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon comments: "Congratulations to all the winners! The ERC is happy to support researchers working in many different areas who move their scientific findings closer to the market and to societal needs. Frontier research is the basis that generates innovation in many forms, not only technological, which in turn can impact society positively."

About the ERC

The European Research Council, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premiere European funding organization for excellent frontier research. Every year, it selects and funds the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based in Europe. It offers four core grant schemes: Starting, Consolidator, Advanced and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between grantees' pioneering research and early phases of its commercialization.

Further information: https://erc.europa.eu/news/PoC-recipients-2020-third-round

Full list of Proof of Concept 2020 round three recipients: https://erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/erc-2020-PoC-third-round-list-of-selected-researchers.pdf

Media enquiries:

Prof. Dr. Stefan Kaskel (FRSC)
Chair of Inorganic Chemistry, Chair of Inorganic Chemistry I
Technische Universität Dresden
Phone: +49 351 463 34885
Fax: +49 351 463 37287
http://www.chm.tu-dresden.de/ac1/