From October 29 to 31, researchers from various innovation and research areas at CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials were hosted by colleagues from ICMCB - Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux, in France.

Over two days, the scientists gathered for the first CICECO-ICMCB Workshop: Collaborative Innovations on Advanced Materials, where they shared and discussed potential areas for collaborative work.

Paula Vilarinho, CICECO’s vice-director, noted that I&D relations with ICMCB-CNRS were already established and that “CICECO aims to build strategic partnerships to apply for projects. The event seeks to promote collaboration between European I&D laboratories in the field of advanced materials from both institutions, particularly in the new European funding framework under the Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership initiative.”

Through this initiative, Europe aims to ensure the capabilities and resources needed to lead innovation and implementation in advanced materials. In line with the Green Deal objectives and industrial policies, the focus is on sustainability and circularity in advanced materials, as well as resilience in value chains. The initial target areas of this initiative include energy, mobility, construction, and electronics.

Participation in this workshop emphasizes the importance of international cooperation for scientific innovation and advancement in materials science, highlighting Portugal's role within the European R&D context.

ICMCB-CNRS is a research unit of CNRS, the University of Bordeaux, and Bordeaux INP, with strong expertise in solid-state chemistry, materials science, and chemical processing. It leverages this knowledge to develop new materials and concepts for synthesis, modeling, and recycling of materials, covering applications in energy, environment, health, electronics, and photonics. Recently, ICMCB has also expanded into machine learning and artificial intelligence.

CICECO is also part of networks such as ENERMAT and EMMI.

CICECO researchers mobilized for this workshop presented, alongside ICMCB, a variety of work areas:

Session 1: CICECO & ICMCB general presentation

• ICMB presentation
• CICECO presentation
• Introduction to CICECO & CICECO's CISS

Session 2: Nanomaterials & optics & related

• Harnessing Light for Temperature Measurements (Luis Carlos)
• From Photonic Materials to Multimaterial Fibers (Sylvain Danto)
• Photonics Enabling Digital Transition through Luminescent Materials (Rute Ferreira)
• Functional Nanomaterials for Environmental Applications (Ana Luisa Silva)
• Chemistry of Nanomaterials (Marie Hélène Delville)
• Ionic Gradients in Ferroelectric Crystals for Non-Linear Optics (Mario Maglione)
• Funding International Collaboration (Cécile Bacles)

Session 3: Functional materials & energy & related

• New Materials for Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cells at ICMCB (Fabrice Mauvy)
• Exploring Solid-State NMR Methods to Study CO2 Sorption Mechanisms in Porous Materials (Mariana Sardo)
• Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (Samuel Marre)
• Magnetic Refrigeration and Thermomagnetic Energy Harvesting (João Amaral)
• Barocaloric Refrigeration using Spin Conversion Compounds and Molecular Ceramics (Patrick Rosa)
• Ceramic and composite materials for energy applications (Andrei Kavaleuski)
• Composites and ceramics for nuclear applications  (Jean-Marc Heintz/Jean-François Silvain)
• Recycling of Carbon Fibers from Composites using Sub- and Supercritical Fluids (Cyril Aymonier)

Session 4: Environment & sustainable development

• From Biobased Monomers to Polymers and Back Again: Sustainable Approaches to Biobased Polymer and Advanced Recycling (Andreia Sousa)
• Hydrometallurgical Separation of Critical Metals using Alternative Solvents (Nicolas Schaeffer)
• Direct Recycling of Li-ion Batteries (Jacob Olchowka)
• Valorization of Industrial Wastes in Ceramic Materials (Paula Seabra)
• Gel Casting for Processing of Large Ceramic Pieces (Jean-Marc Heintz)
• Alternative Sintering: A Sustainable Opportunity for Electroceramics (Paula M. Vilarinho)
• Development of Low-Temperature Sintering of Functional Ceramics (Catherine Elissalde / Michaël Josse)