NEMILIES

According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health, alongside with climate change. Ultrafine airborne nanoparticles can enter deeply into the lungs where they can cause damage. Engineered nanoparticles raise additional health concerns due to their surface reactivity. As a result, 500 000 people died in Europe in 2015 due to air pollution. 

For regulatory puproses, airborne nanoparticles with size limits of 10 μm, 2.5 μm and 1 μm are defined as PM10, PM2.5 and PM, respectively. However, only PM10 and PM2.5 are currently regulated. The smaller ultrafine partices, which can penetrate much deeper into our lungs, remain unregulated due to the inavailability of suitable characterization techniques. 

It’s been the breakthrough of their research team at TU Wien to apply the nanomechanical point of view to the world of optics to create a radically new infrared (IR) detector especially suited to the collection and characterization of nanomaterials. EMILIE, their nanomechanical IR detector has the potential to play a crucial role in ensuring the safe and responsible use of nanomaterials and nanoparticles, while also providing valuable insights into their fundamental properties and behavior.

Reason for applying to HSbooster.eu services

They would love to get insights into how to get a new analytical techniques approved for challenges in environmental analysis. 

They also want to contribute to the elaborations of new directives and regulations for nanoparticle analysis (ultrafine airbrone pollution, nanoplastics, ...) with their new technique.