New projects & Milestones
In 2020 the projects Hybead, supported by the ERC under its Proof-of-Concept Grant, and InanoMOF, ERC Consolidator Grant, came to an end. These projects have allowed the development of composites combining MOFs and metal nanoparticles for several applications, including advanced adsorbents for water purification. The group has also continued working on the European Genesis project, which is focused on the development of MOF-based membranes for CO2 capture. Similarly, advances in the national MOP3 project have allowed the use of MOPs for developing new separation and porous materials. In addition, progress in the Meta2nol project, supported by the Ramon Areces Foundation, has led to the synthesis of efficient MOF-based catalysts for CO2 conversion.
On the other hand, during 2020 the group has started four new projects. The first, SensMOF, is supported by the BIST under its Ignite Seeding Phase programme, which aims to develop optical sensors using homochiral MOFs for the detection of enantiomeric drugs. Two other projects, POSE and ESENS-MOP, funded through the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the ICN2-SO Seed Funding Programme, respectively, focus on the detection of pollutants integrating MOPs in optical sensors. The fourth project, Water Purification method, funded by ICN2-SO under the Technology Valorisation Programme aims to bring the MOF-based composite adsorbents for water purification to the market.
The group has also continued to collaborate with companies to bring customised micro- and nanoencapsulation technologies to the market, working in parallel with different entities. It has also been involved in the spin-off Ahead Therapeutics S.L., devoted to the validation of a liposome-based platform for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.