The behavior of complex multiphase fluids involved in various industrial fields is in large part governed by multi-scale phenomena, coupling interactions at the molecular, meso- and macroscopic scales. Those couplings are still poorly understood and require substantial development in experimental and theoretical knowledge, in order to achieve scientific discoveries that will be transferable to technological applications. Several applications related to energy industries are expected to benefit improvements from molecular and interfacial control of transport phenomena. More generally, any process concerned by the management of complex multiphase fluids and where the mass and heat transfers hindrance causes efficiency loss, will take advantage of extended understanding of multi-scale coupling phenomena. The MUSCOFI project aims at interpreting macroscopic data and predicting macroscopic behaviour by using modelling and experimental tools to elucidate molecular-level phenomena that 1) govern the formation, aggregation, and stability of interfacial and network structures in multi-phase fluids, 2) control their development and effects on macroscopic rheology and transport processes, 3) and finally impact the efficiency of processes in energy technologies. It is a unique opportunity to federate complementary research teams in a new collaborative scheme that will cover the whole scale range, from the molecule to the industrial process. The MUSCOFI project gathers the French partners of an international PIRE project (US NFS program "Partnerships for International Research and Education"), leaded by the City College of New York and that includes 12 research teams from the USA, Germany, Norway, and France. This program includes scientific collaborations, researchers and students exchanges, and symposia organization, on multi-scale investigation of complex fluids of interest to the energy sector. MUSCOFI will thus benefit from synergies at an international level in terms of cooperation, networking and international visibility. The students (2 PhD) and research fellows (2 x 18 months PostDoc) who will be hired during the project will benefit opportunities to spend internships in the partner laboratories abroad, while foreign students will be hosted in the French labs involved. Two systems of particular interest in the field of energy will be investigated within this project: asphaltenes at water/oil interface, and clathrate hydrates in water/oil emulsion. These systems appear in diverse energy applications in oil & gas, heat storage, and environmentally friendly refrigeration. The Tasks of the project are described bellow: 1 The model systems that will be investigated at the different scale levels, as well as the required operating conditions will be validated at the early stage of the project. 2 At the molecular level, the explicit description of the electronic structure will be introduced using an approximate Density Functional based Tight Binding method to retrieve structural, energetic and thermodynamic data. 3 Interactions at the liquid/liquid interfaces in the conditions of solid phase formation will be investigated using microfluidic experiments. 4 The extrapolation of molecular, micro- and meso-scopic results to the macroscopic level will be validated by measuring the influence of the global composition of the systems and the presence of selected additives on flow behaviors, phase change dynamics, and heat and mass transfers. 5 Models will then be developed in an integration and extrapolation approach that will include the local-scale findings to provide macroscopic predictive tools. The project should produce abundent experimental and theoretical new results, promote the development of original methodologies, and offer opportunities for new national and international cooperations. In addition to academic publications, possible patent filling and future industrial partnerships could be valuable outpus of the project.

In order to circumvent the intermittency of renewable energies, the use of an energy vector like hydrogen seems an ideal solution. It enables massive storage of energy over a long period of time, is suitable for a wide range of uses (mobility, heat, processes) and its carbon impact is very interesting depending on its production. This source of energy therefore appears to be a good alternative to the fossil fuels on which we are very dependent. However, 95% of hydrogen is currently produced by steam reforming of natural gas leading to significant emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2)! Besides to this production constraint, hydrogen can be used in fuel cells or in direct combustion for mobile or stationary applications, but this use is highly dependent on its storage, which represents a major issue. Progress in terms of production and storage is therefore necessary before being able to use this energy source efficiently and realistically. Considering this challenge, this interdisciplinary project which brings together one team of the Institute of Physical Chemistry (ICP) CNRS-Paris-Saclay University (Orsay) and 1 member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris (ENSTA IP Paris) aims to propose a innovative solution for the production and storage of hydrogen adapted to the energy constraints of the current society and to the environments of military deployment operations. The production of Hydrogen, supervised by the ICP partner, will be carried out by using new photocatalytic materials such as composite photocatalysts based on Conjugated Polymer Nanostructures (NPC) coupled with inorganic semiconductors (such as TiO2) and Metal Organic Framework materials (MOFs) synthesized by the ENSTA partner. The composites obtained will then be modified with cocatalysts formed by metallic nanoparticles (without noble metals) induced by radiolysis. Hydrogen storage, supervised by the ENSTA partner, will be considered by adsorption in porous materials such as Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) doped with carbonaceous materials and metal nanoparticles synthesized by the ICP partner.

The objective of the project is to study new pyrotechnic compositions in order to bring a breakthrough innovation in performance and more particularly in pyrotechnic sensitivity. This requires the development of new energetic materials including in particular crosslinkable energetic resins or binders. The MAPY project therefore proposes to develop new binders to integrate them into new compositions in order to promote Infra Red performance for military applications, to produce new effects for fireworks applications while reducing the pyrotechnic sensitivity of pyrotechnic mixtures. This work aims to: - stimulate the opening of new avenues of research and maintain the innovation effort on topics of interest for defense and for civilians; - identify technological breakthroughs to maintain a lead in improving the overall performance of pyrotechnic compositions. To achieve this objective, LACROIX is proposing for this project called "MAPY" an academic research partnership, forming a network of excellence in order to develop new crosslinkable energy binders. Based on binders known from the literature, the synthesis of new functionalized materials is envisaged in partnership with a chemical synthesis laboratory in the field and a laboratory for the thermodynamic simulation approach. This partnership will be built with the UCP laboratory of ENSTA PARIS specialized in combustion chemistry.

The aim of this project is to produce nanothermites of controlled metal-oxide architecture and interface using efficient processes transferable to an industrial production, in order to guarantee stability of behaviors and performances and to increase reaction rates. The current approaches used in the nanomaterials community for multiple applications taking advantage of the reduction of the size of the structures at nanometric scale are starting to be implemented to the nanothermites domain. Nanopowders are simply mixed and the results obtained are quite promising. However, during mixing, strong local heterogeneities in the particle distribution are inevitable, and the manipulation and the synthesis of these powder mixtures impose safety constraints ('worker exposure') which could lead to significant costs for an eventual industrial development. Considering this, it is interesting to find an alternative of this simple mixture of nanopowders and to consider nanostructured metal-oxide composites in which the two materials are intimately linked and homogeneously distributed even at small scale. These nanocomposites can have many architectures: individual coating of aluminum nanoparticles with the oxide, coating of oxide nanoparticles with aluminum, ... with different possibilities of shapes and dimension. In this project we propose a physicochemical and modeling approach to perform a rational design of nanothermites, from several metal-oxide pairs (Al / CuO, Al / Sb2O5, Al / WO3 ...) by controlling the process parameters: the dimensions of the particles (metal and oxide), their morphology, their interface, and the porosity of the architecture. Several nano thermites will be synthesized according to different protocols then characterized and studied in combustion and by heat treatments. The results obtained experimentally will be totally original and very useful to understand the physicochemical processes involved. They will also be used to develop a detailed kinetic model of combustion.

NeuroMuscular Blocking Agents (NMBA; curares) relax skeletal muscles to facilitate surgeries and permit intubation, but lead to adverse reactions: (a) severe hypersensitivity reactions (anaphylaxis) thought to rely on pre-existing anti-NMBA antibodies; (b) complications due to postoperative residual curarization. Identification of patients at risk remains suboptimal due to the lack of adequate tools to detect anti-NMBA antibodies. A capturing agent exists for only one out of the four most used NMBAs, allowing reversal of profound curarization. Case reports suggested that it may also ameliorate an ongoing anaphylaxis due to that NMBA. Based on strong preliminary results, our project proposes to characterize anti-NMBA antibody repertoires in patients with various NMBA-anaphylaxis, describe activation pathways leading to anaphylaxis, develop and validate diagnostic and therapeutic molecules to ameliorate patient screening, NMBA-anaphylaxis and reverse profound neuromuscular block.