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INL researchers actively engaged in hydrogen and renewable gas research

INL researchers from the Clean Energy cluster are actively engaged in hydrogen and renewable gas research. Hydrogen holds tremendous potential to revolutionize our society in various ways. As a clean and versatile energy carrier, hydrogen offers a promising solution to mitigate climate change and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. It can be produced from water and renewable electricity, and it can be transformed into a wide range of synthetic fuels. Advancements in hydrogen research are driving the development of efficient and cost-effective methods for hydrogen production, storage, and utilisation. Hydrogen can be directly used in fuel cells for transportation, enabling zero-emission vehicles and reducing air pollution. It can also be used in industrial processes and power generation, fostering a sustainable energy ecosystem. Furthermore, by combining hydrogen with other abundant gases, it is possible to produce methane, methanol or other renewable gases, that are compatible with existing natural gas and energy infrastructure. While these factors open up opportunities for the widespread adoption of hydrogen, there is still a need to develop more efficient electrolysers and other systems that use fewer critical raw materials. Moreover, hydrogen can be applied in various sectors, including industrial processes, power generation, and residential applications, further contributing […]

Revolutionizing quantum technologies – INL researcher, Leonardo Novo, published groundbreaking findings in Nature Photonics

Leonardo Novo, Staff Researcher at the Quantum and Linear-Optical Computation, has just published a scientific paper in the renowned journal Nature Photonics entitled “Boson bunching is not maximized by indistinguishable particles”. In this work, the team proposed an experiment that contradicts common knowledge on the so-called bunching property of photons. The observation of this abnormal effect seems to be within reach of today’s photonic technologies. The quantum world is indeed very complex to understand, and today we meet Leonardo so he can explain his most recent work on Boson bunching. Leonardo, congratulations on your latest work published in Nature Photonics! Can you explain what Boson bunching is? Before explaining Boson bunching let me just mention what a Boson is. For all we know, the fundamental particles that we encounter in our universe are divided into two groups: the bosons and the fermions. The ‘most famous’ bosons are the photons, the particles from which light is made, whereas electrons, protons or neutrons are fermions. There is a very powerful principle in quantum mechanics that allows us to predict many phenomena, which, in very simple terms, says that fermions have the tendency to avoid each other while bosons have the tendency to stay […]

hOLIVEcream – healthy creams based on olive oil enriched with red fruits

Currently, some strategies are focused on developing “clean label” products, which consider the current sustainability requirements, rely on natural products, and present a healthy nutritional profile. In this context, the project hOLIVEcream project aimed to create new creams that use vegetable fat and incorporate red fruits for pastry and bakery products. These products guarantee healthy lipidic profiles, with low saturated fat and high antioxidant content. INL researchers were in charge of developing and characterising the new formulations. Decorgel has partnered with INL has obtained so these new solutions could be incorporated into creams to be used in pastry and bakery products. This project brought significant advantages, with the development and introduction in the market of noel products that currently do not exist internationally. INL researchers thoroughly investigated the new fats to be incorporated in bakery and pastries, including textural, sensorial, rheological (deformation) and structural evaluations, at the micro and nanoscale. Buse Gurbuz, a researcher in the Food Processing and Nutrition research group at INL, explains that “all formulations were designed considering the characteristics of the products already used in the pastry sector, as a slight modification could alter the sensory perception of the final baking product”. Olive oil, an endogenous […]

Closing event of the Baterias2030 Project

The closing event of the Baterias2030 took place yesterday at gnration, in Braga with all the partners and Braga City Council. Since 2018 and during the last years, the team involved in the Baterias2030 focused the work on the development of technologies applied to batteries of the future and their transfer to the urban environment. The project’s strategic goal was based on disruptive solutions, reliable, sustainable, easily scalable, capable of being integrated throughout the value chain and accessible to the consumer and was aligned with European strategies in terms of decarbonization and sustainable cities, and the coordination with technological agendas to ensure the strategic positioning of the Batteries 2030 in the national panorama. 23 entities took part in the consortium of the Baterias2030 project which was conceived based on energy storage and production technologies with a high potential to evolve beyond the current state-of-the-art and the willingness on the part of business and scientific co-drivers to collaborate and contribute in terms of the development of technologies and/or their application in the market. The last years also counted on the collaboration of the Braga City Council in the implementation of the living laboratory for decarbonization. According to Pedro Salomé “…today we finished the […]

Meet Andrea Cruz, contributing to the first prototype of the LIFESAVER project

At INL since 2016, can you tell us a bit about your journey? My name is Andrea Cruz, Portuguese, and I come from a small village 36km from Braga called Forjães. After completing my degree in microbiology from the faculty of Biotechnology in Porto, I decided that it would be good for my professional career to have an abroad experience, and I did a master’s in science from Montfort University UK. This great experience led me to pursue a PhD in Health Sciences from Minho University that has been conducted between the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) from Minho University and the Trudeau Institute (USA). In 2016, I joined INL with a Marie Curie fellow to develop point-of-care devices for detecting biomarkers in the context of different disease diagnostics. Since then, I have worked on this interface between medicine and nanotechnology, mainly identifying clinical biomarkers and developing biosensing strategies and lab-on-chip devices for medical applications. I am a staff researcher of the Nanodevices group, working on the LIFESAVER research project funded by the European Commission under the Green Deal. The Lifesaver project involves fourteen European institutions, including universities, research centres and companies, working together, sharing knowledge, and driven by […]

INL researchers develop a new model to predict toxicity of nanomaterials

Engineered nanomaterials based on metal oxide nanoparticles offer many promising applications – from cosmetics and sunscreens to diagnostic devices and textiles. These nanomaterials offer exciting technological properties. However, it is crucial to understand their interaction with the biological environment, such as marine, atmospheric and terrestrial ecosystems. Alarmingly, emerging studies suggest that engineered nanomaterials might present toxic effects on human lungs, and there is still no international consensus on the metrics and exposure limits of these nanomaterials, as toxicity studies are usually conducted in non-human laboratory models. Researchers from the Nanosafety research group at INL are innovating and using in silico experiments to predict the toxicity of engineered nanomaterials – i.e., these toxicity studies can be performed using an artificial intelligence-assisted and data-driven framework. João Meneses, the leading author of this study, explains “We developed a machine learning model to predict the potential human lung cell toxicity induced by metal oxide nanoparticles exposure”. The group has successfully shown that it is possible to build a simple, easy-to-interpret, and robust model aligning with the principle of Safe-by-Design. João adds that the recently published study “could pave the way for efficient decision-making, prediction, and mitigation of the potential occupational and environmental risks associated with engineered nanomaterials”. This […]

INL develops new mechanisms to improve sensitivity and noise reduction in accelerometers

The demand for low-cost and low-power consumption solutions for high-resolution seismic and gravity measurements is on the rise. This is largely due to the increasing need for accurate and reliable data for various applications such as geotechnical surveying, navigation systems, or natural hazards monitoring, for example, earthquakes. This information is usually obtained using very sensitive instruments such as accelerometers. Accelerometers, as the name suggests, measure acceleration, i.e. velocity over time, and are commonly used in various applications from smartphones and cars to navigation systems and aeroplanes. INL researchers have developed a new mechanism to improve sensitivity and noise reduction in accelerometers. More specifically, the electronic readout is typically the bottleneck that limits sensitivity/resolution in accelerometers using capacitive transduction (the commonly used mechanism). With the prototype developed at INL, researchers are using their expertise in Micro Electronic Mechanical Systems, known as MEMS structures, to increase the accuracy of accelerometers. Rosana Dias, the researcher at the Integrated Micro and Nanotechnologies research group, explains that “the duration of pull-in non-linear transitions is very sensitive to external forces, under specific actuation and damping conditions. We are using know-how on the electrostatic pull-in dynamic behaviour of MEMS structures and the interaction of the several force contributions to […]