Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are renowned for their outstanding charge carrier mobility, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Combining these characteristics with their nanometer-scale diameter renders them exceptionally promising for developing (opto)-electronic devices, where the challenge lies in achieving miniaturization without compromising performance. The ultimate goal of the project DINOSAURES is to fill the empty cores of SWCNTs to expand their range of applications, based on the general characteristics of SWCNTs. These include their high electronic conductivity, the capacity to separate charges, and the potential for confining molecules in a one-dimensional space. The encapsulation will enable combining the properties from the nanotubes and the enclosed molecules while protecting these molecules (oxidation, photobleaching…) The principal objectives of the project Dinosaur are to create an innovative methodology for precisely controlled filling the SWCNTs using pulsed vapor phase infiltration (VPI), to develop tailored synthesis strategies for molecules that can fit exactly the specific requirements and that can be used in VPI and to go up to the proof-of-concept stage by synthesizing and characterizing filled SWCNTs, showcasing controlled and stable amphoteric doping, or fine-tuning their photosensitization/reactivity capabilities under visible light.

Dislocated layered materials are fundamentally different to their non-dislocated equivalent. For example, screw dislocations in multiple graphene layers convert them into a single continuous helical sheet, allowing c-axis thermal and electrical conduction; both edge and screw dislocations block interlayer shear, normally considered universal between graphene layers. Non-basal dislocations in layered materials are common but despite this, due to their structural complexity, there are very few studies to date in the literature. Using the latest modelling tools, such as machine-learning carbon potentials (ASE and GAP-20U) we will explore prismatic edge dislocations and screw dislocations in nanoscale layered carbons, supported by AFM and Raman studies, synchrotron and electron microscopy. Our *scientific goal* is to explore and expand dislocation theory for layered 2D-materials, understand dislocation core structures, migration, and interaction with impurities such as water (pipe diffusion and hypersonic flow), as well as metals and halogens (dislocation mediated intercalation processes and formation of staging compounds). We will understand and explore dislocation formation mechanisms using irradiation and flash thermolysis. Our *technological goals* are to explore poorly understood technological processes in 2D-nanocarbons such as superlubrication in the context of dislocations, and the potentially crucial role of dislocations in intercalation, aiming to guide dislocation design in graphite battery electrodes for high-speed metal-ion intercalation and deintercalation. We will develop and optimise dislocation engineering in nanocarbons through irradiation and flash thermolysis. Our team consists of three partners in Nantes, Bordeaux and Lyon, with three overseas associates in UK, Spain and Australia, all of whom are well-known international experts in carbon defect physics and chemistry.

We propose a new, non-conventional approach of synthesis of a new class of porous, carbon-based hybrid materials which aim to be optimal adsorbents of hydrogen for mobile applications. The project addresses both theoretical and experimental aspects of the problem of efficient H2 storage by physisorption. The proposed research protocol includes all aspects of development of new material for practical application: 1) the synthesis of new adsorbents, 2) their characterization, and 3) multiscale numerical modeling. 1) The synthesis of the porous systems will use the arc discharge approach which has been used for over 20 years to produce fullerenes and carbon nanotubes. This technique will be first optimized to obtain fragmented graphene structures of nanometric size. Then we will incorporate heteroatoms (B, Be, N or mixture of them) during the synthesis of the carbon scaffolds. It has already been proved that large quantities (up to more than 30 %) can be incorporated into such carbon structures using high temperature techniques (such as arc discharge but also laser ablation or magnetron sputtering). These methods, already used for the synthesis and doping of carbon nanotubes, requires high temperatures, typically around 3000 K. The advantage of arc discharge approach is the possibility to prepare significant quantities of material for in depth characterization. It will also be possible to upscale this approach in a future step. The main challenge of this project will be the optimization of existing procedure to obtain porous ensembles of graphene scaffolds (nano-fragments) with a high percentage of carbon atoms substituted by boron and /or nitrogen atoms. 2) A large variety of techniques will be used to fully characterize the synthesized structures. Samples morphology will be analyzed using transmission electron microscopy. Spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), NMR and Raman investigations will be carried-out to check for the actual substitution of carbon atoms by heteroatoms and quantify the substitution rate. Nitrogen and argon physisorption will be used to determine the samples’ specific surface and pore size distribution. The energies of adsorption will be measured using calorimetric methods. The hydrogen adsorption measurements will be performed both at low temperature (around 77 K) and at room temperature and up to pressures of 200 bars. The final storage capacity of the materials will be estimated from hydrogen isotherms. 3) These experimental aspects will be supplemented by the multi-scale numerical modeling of the structural stability, binding energy of adsorption and the simulations of isotherms of hydrogen adsorption. The role of the numerical research will consist in guiding the experimental synthesis, proposing a microscopic mechanism of adsorption and complementing the material characterization by information that is not accessible from experimental data (for example, models of distribution of substituted atoms, distribution of the energy of adsorption and local density of the adsorbed hydrogen). This information will provide a feedback for optimization of the experimental procedures, especially for more effective search of the substitution procedure and synthesis.

After the discovery of graphene in 2004, and its consequences in the field of nanoscience and nanomaterials, there has been a growing interest in 2D materials and their heterostructures. One can expect a technological impact equivalent to that in the 80s with the introduction of semiconductor heterostructures. GoBN enters into this framework and focuses on graphene (Gr) and hexagonal boron nitride (BN) heterostructures, a combination that is of great interest in electronics and optoelectronics. Indeed the two materials are mutually compatible with identical honeycomb lattices and functionally complementary. The first, called black graphene is a conductor; the second is a large gap semiconductor, transparent to visible light and called white graphene. It has recently been shown, by measurements on exfoliated samples, that transport properties of BN supported graphene could approach intrinsic graphene limits. The GoBN project aims at developing and controlling the synthesis of BN thin films of high quality to serve as supporting and / or epitaxial growth substrate for the deposition for high mobility graphene, as low-loss dielectric for Gr field effect devices, as ultrathin dielectric for local gates in bipolar Klein Tunneling devices (transistors and microwave photodetectors ) and, in the ultimate version where the thickness reaches a few atomic layers, as tunnel barriers for vertical tunneling devices. Most of these applications have not been developed, and some remain demonstrated, due to lack of BN material with sufficient quality. The goal of the project is threefold. The first is to develop routes for BN films synthesis to support graphene up to the centimeter scale. The second aims at demonstrating, using individual devices, the possibilities offered by Gr on BN devices in high-frequency electronics and optics, specifically the Gr on BN on local gate stacks, which give access to a new ballistic graphene electronics based on Dirac Fermion optics. Considering the more classical picture of field effect transistors, the GoBN technology aims at pushing working frequencies closer to the THz domain. The third goal is to prove the integrability of GoBN process at centimeter scale using thin films developed in parallel and to benchmark large scale devices with exfoliated ones. The project addresses the growth of BN films in two independent ways: the first is the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on metal which will be pushed to a high level of control, thanks to a modeling effort, making it compatible with the above applications. The second is a novel chemical approach, the Polymers Derived Ceramics (PDC), which has recently been adapted for the synthesis of thin films. The qualities of both types of films will be compared using a variety of imaging techniques and high resolution spectroscopy (TEM, EELS, Raman, cathodoluminescence, STM/AFM), and benchmarked against bulk and exfoliated crystals. The coupling of excitons to structural defects, which is emblematic of the Coulomb interactions, will be examined in detail and exploited as a dedicated spectroscopic characterization tool like Raman spectroscopy for graphene. The best films will be transferred and integrated into graphene electronic and optical devices and tested to achieve the third goal of the project. GoBN also addresses the epitaxial growth of graphene on BN by CVD method; this is a promising emerging approach in terms of mobility of graphene but also new functionality related to unexplored Gr- BN bilayer properties, that can be studied through variety of means available in the consortium. Finally, an important part of the project is related to electron interactions with acoustic and optical phonons but also with BN surface phonons, which will be studied and compared with those of conventional dielectrics. The goal is to understand and minimize the relaxation phenomena, taking place at high electric fields.

The POPUP project aims at developing new heteropolynuclear complexes based on lanthanide ions for upconversion (UC) at the molecular scale in solution. The UC phenomenon allows to obtain a light emission at higher energy than the excitation, offering a spectral signature free of interference such as auto-fluorescence of samples or spectral overlap between excitation and emission. Although the UC phenomenon has been demonstrated since the 1960's, it remained until recently confined to the fields of solid state chemistry or nanoparticles. The molecular approach, which appeared only 10 years ago, is confronted with many difficulties related to the trapping of luminescence in solution. Developing efficient systems at the molecular scale remains a challenge for coordination chemistry, but would allow a better control of the composition of the systems and their toxicity for bio-analytical applications. POPUP plans to develop heteropolynuclear complexes in which the elemental lanthanide composition will be tuned to optimize short-range intramolecular energy transfers and lead to a UC that rivals solid compounds or nanoparticles. POPUP aims to understand the phenomena leading to cluster formation, to better understand their synthesis and to lead to pre-organized assemblies in which the numerous lanthanide ions would be in close proximity, allowing optimized energy transfers and efficient conversion. Although POPUP is based on a fundamental approach, the applications of such systems would be numerous, ranging from luminescent labeling for microscopy imaging, biological analysis, improvement of the efficiency of photovoltaic cells, to anti-counterfeiting inks.