IMDEA Nanociencia investigates the critical materials that Europe needs

14.03.2023

IMDEA Nanociencia, through its Programme for Critical Raw Materials and Sustainability, works with more than 20 European companies.
These materials are essential to cover the urgent needs that Europe has in the electromobility and wind power sector.
The Action Plan for Critical Raw Materials will be published shortly by the European Commission.

Madrid, 14th March 2023. IMDEA Nanociencia has started a new project funded by Bosch Research (Germany - Robert Bosch GmbH), focused on the sustainable development of new permanent magnets produced in Europe, to meet the future needs of the electric vehicle sector.

This initiative joins many others in which IMDEA Nanociencia, through its Nanotechnology Programme for Critical Raw Materials and Sustainability, works together with more than twenty European companies in the framework of national and international projects. These actions cover, from the processing of rare earth oxides from mining deposits, to the manufacture of permanent magnets from these processed materials and from recycled permanent magnets.

These materials -with 98% of them imported from China- are essential to cover the urgent needs that Europe has in the electromobility sector (up to 2 kg of magnets needed in an electric vehicle) and wind power industry (up to 4 tons per turbine) to achieve the objectives of the ecological transition. As part of the comprehensive solution needed in the European Union, IMDEA Nanociencia is also working in a European recycling project, with 19 centres and 13 companies, to guarantee a continuous supply of the critical materials needed in these technologies.

These lines of action position IMDEA Nanociencia in a leading role in Europe in materials research and in the development of technologies with a reduced environmental impact. The processing of raw materials and a greater production located in Europe, accompanied by the recycling of critical materials, are expected to be key players in the Action Plan for Critical Raw Materials that will be published shortly by the European Commission (“EU Critical Raw Materials Act”).

These initiatives stem from the one of the new research lines "Nanotechnology for Critical Raw Materials and Sustainability" of the ‘Severo Ochoa Excellence’ project, awarded to IMDEA Nanociencia in 2017 and recently renewed for another 4 years.

Contact

Dr. Alberto Bollero (Scientific and Technological Coordination)
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IMDEA Nanociencia
contacto.nanociencia [at]imdea.org
+34 91 299 87 00
Twitter: @imdea_nano
Facebook: @imdeananociencia
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Source: IMDEA Nanociencia