As we came to the end date of the MOF2H2 project, we would like to present you several reflections from members of our consortium. These articles provide insights into project’s path, progress, and its outcomes. The participants describe the scientific ambitions that drove MOF2H2, and how these ambitions successfully translated into concrete results.
As our fourth contributor, we are happy to share with you our French partner ESPCI Paris, (L’École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris), ESPCI’s point of view on the MOF2H2 project.
Scientific ambition: What made MOF2H2 worth pursuing
On the first place, our partners from ESPCI underline the great opportunity to explore in depth the photophysics of metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs) for hydrogen production within a multidisciplinary network. They estimate that the project allowed them to better understand the advantages and limitations of the materials for photocatalysis in general, not only for hydrogen production. It also enabled the pathway to developing new chemistry for designing novel MOFs and functional composites.
ESPCI’s contribution: Roles, results, and concrete outputs
As project coordinator, ESPCI’s main role was to ensure effective coordination between international partners and to manage interactions with the European Commission in cooperation with the Project Officer. They also led and supported multiple dissemination activities within the consortium. Their main contribution was to facilitate collaboration across the consortium by implementing the Data Management Plan and the Project Management Plan.
From a scientific perspective, their contributions focused on the synthesis, characterisation, and coating of the materials. As such, ESPCI team contributed to several key deliverables related to the synthesis and characterisation of MOF-based materials, as well as to the co-deposition of metal nanoparticles and the deposition of functional films. These activities also supported the development of an optimised and upscaled synthesis protocol, which was directly used for the fabrication of the final prototype.
Towards the end of the project, they were also responsible for consolidating the results ownership list and preparing the report on exploitation activities and strategy, with the objective of ensuring the long-term valorisation and impact of the project outcomes.
SERRE, Ashish Kumar KAR, Roxane SOLOMOVICI, Vivekanand SHARMA, Vanessa PIMENTA, Georges
MOUCHAHAM, Farid NOUAR.
“The project strengthened our expertise in guiding the selection of promising materials as well asin synthesis, and characterisation. We have also gained new knowledge in coating strategies. (…) We see MOF2H as an important step forward in advancing photocatalysis for ESPCI (…), the project helped us to develop and explore alternative pathways that could complement existing approaches in the long-term.”
Lessons learned: Challenges, growth, and organisational impact
The major challenge was the lack of reproducibility in the catalytic performance. To address this, we shifted our focus toward improving material stability and ensuring more reproducible results. This led us to identify and develop alternative MOFs with better structural stability.
The project strengthened ESPCI’s expertise in guiding the selection of promising materials as well asin synthesis, and characterisation. The project partners also gained new knowledge in coating strategies.
Since they were already involved in forming the consortium, their core network remained largely the same, but the integration of a new Greek partner through the Hop-On initiative was a valuable addition. New collaborations also emerged thanks to the advisory board, as a result of dissemination workshops organised by the consortium as well as upon interactions during conferences.
Overall, the project provided new perspectives on photocatalysis and reinforced ESPCI’s position, particularly thanks to our work on titanium-based MOFs.
What comes next: building on MOF2H2’s legacy
MOF2H2 represents an important step forward in advancing photocatalysis for ESPCI. Even though current performances do not yet match established hydrogen technologies (such as electrolysis), the project helped to develop and explore alternative pathways that could complement existing approaches in the long-term.
To focus on future perspectives, ESPCI is currently preparing a national project proposal (ANR) with one of the MOF2H2 partners, and they are also developing a new European project that builds directly on MOF2H2. This new proposal aims to go further toward prototype development, leveraging the materials knowledge gained during the project. In addition, new collaborations have started with both consortium partners and new contacts established during the project, particularly in photophysics and photocatalysis beyond hydrogen production.
The partners from ESPCI hope that MOF2H2 will provide them with useful guidelines for designing durable and cost-effective materials for photocatalysis. These insights could benefit not only hydrogen production from water but also other applications such as CO₂ reduction, pollutant degradation, or biomass valorisation.
Key recommendation and advice to organisations wishing to build up on MOF2H2
When asked about the recommendations for future adepts who would intend to build on MOF2H2, ESPCI would encourage researchers to look beyond hydrogen production alone and consider broader photocatalytic applications. It is also important to continue exploring new composite materials, as this aspect remained exploratory in MOF2H2 and the optimal combination between MOFs and co-catalysts has yet to be identified.
A next step could involve moving beyond pure photocatalysis and exploring hybrid approaches, for example combining photocatalysis with electrolysis. The direction will also depend on the results of the pilot-scale tests conducted at the end of the project, which will provide valuable information on durability and practical implementation.
