An LED-pumped luminescent concentrator (LC) is a parallelepiped-shaped luminescent material with LEDs on its large sides. After absorbing light from the LEDs, the material re-emits light into the LC which is guided to its edges. Concentration is achieved through total internal reflections. This leads to a luminance 10 to 20 times higher than that of the LEDs. This is an emerging field of research with a very high disruptive potential. The aim of the NewLight project is to develop concentrators over a large part of the optical spectrum (visible SWIR-short-wavelength infrared- and MWIR-medium-wavelength infrared) with a systematic, multidisciplinary approach, combining materials and systems. Inspired by solar concentrators, we will explore the concept of a "cascade concentrator": a first LED-pumped concentrator, called "primary", is used to pump a second concentrator, called "secondary". The materials are chosen so that the absorption and emission bands are matched, creating a cascade of wavelengths from the pumping LEDs to the emission of the secondary concentrator. Cascaded concentrators have the potential to emit an order of magnitude more light than current concentrators. The strategy of the NewLight project is to use well-known materials for the primary concentrators and to explore new materials for the secondary concentrators. New crystals will be developed for the visible and SWIR bands. New glasses will be developed for the SWIR and MWIR bands. In parallel, the NewLight project faces technological challenges related to the applications: concentrator efficiency, cooling and coupling to an output optical fibre. By using the symmetries of the concentrator structure and the recycling of light in the material, the NewLight project has the keys to solve these problems. The NewLight project is very ambitious, starting with new materials and ending with concentrator devices that are as close as possible to applications. This ambition is compatible with the duration of the project (48 months) thanks to the unique properties of LED-pumped concentrators: very low cost thanks to commercial LEDs and rapid development possible thanks to the simplicity of the architectures. The project is organised in 4 tasks coordinated by a "management" task, in a spirit of strong iteration. Two "materials" tasks and two "systems" tasks are combined, with a multidisciplinary approach. The proposed structures should allow to break luminance and power records for incoherent broad spectrum sources, setting up LCs as new reference sources. The NewLight project will open up new fields of application, with simple, reliable and robust solutions with a high potential impact on the photonics industry. Potential applications include: metrology, micro-spectroscopy, active SWIR imaging, red-green-blue projection, inspection and control of objects on production lines or light treatments in dermatology. Our strategy to maximize the impact of the NewLight project is built on the large experience of the consortium in the dissemination of scientific culture and in research valorization. The strategy includes patenting, scientific communication in large international conferences, publications in specialized and general open-access journals, and wide range dissemination to the general public. The goal is to raise the awareness of a large scientific community to the exceptional opportunities offered by luminescent concentrators, that the NewLight projet will contribute to reveal.

There is an urgent need to develop reliable and reproducible sensing technologies for in situ and continuous water monitoring for surface water and wastewaters. The AQUAE project will address this need by specifically developing dedicated chemical sensors that are versatile and adaptable enough to monitor priority substances and their degradation in a wide range of aquatic environments. Real-time monitoring of water quality using these chemical sensors will be performed in the real environment and at the point of discharge, which is necessary to prevent micropollution, define appropriate corrective actions for environmental remediation and decide when they should be undertaken (SCIRPE, BRGM, IFREMER with CEDRE). The AQUAE project will provide an attractive solution for real-time monitoring of nutrient concentration to control sustainable remediation processes such as phytoremediation (SCIRPE with DEEP INSA) and nutrient recovery treatment (Bioengine Laboratory, U. Laval, Canada). The development of chemical sensors for on-site detection will skillfully combine infrared photonics (IR) and electrochemical (EC) technology, both well mastered by the consortium (ISCR, KLEARIA, I.FOTON, BRGM & IFREMER). These two spectroscopic methods will be coupled in a portable device with a common microfluidic system for a fast, multivariate and in situ monitoring of organic contaminants. This hybrid prototype combining IR and EC sensors is oriented towards water pollution problems and wastewaters treatment by phytoremediation or nutrient recovery treatment. In addition to its fabrication for on-site use, a major challenge of the project is to overcome a new scientific barrier by designing and fabricating IR & EC sensors on a unique Lab-on-Chip. This AQUAE's LOC multifunctional sensors with an adapted microfluidic system will be designed to detect various priority substances (BTEX, PAH, pesticides, phthalate, drug residues and nitrates). Its efficiency will be tested at the laboratory scale for a first proof of concept. The detection concentrations in the AQUAE project for considered micropollutants will be at laboratory scale : BTEX and PAHs in case of vicinity of accidental pollution range from 50-150 µg/L, phthalate DEHP often in the range of 1-100 µg/L in wastewater and rain water, pesticides more than 5 µg/L in polluted sites for which the standard at 0.1 µg/L can be largely exceeded like in the north of France (metolachlor), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (diclofenac and ibuprofene) with tested range µg/L-mg/L. For nitrates detected by electrochemical sensor, we will consider the Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC) which requires Member States to respect the quality standard not to be exceeded for the good status of groundwater (50 mg/L). The recommendation for discharges to water are about 15 mg/L of total nitrogen in the case of a treatment plant with a capacity of more than 600 kg/d. At the national level, the nitrate pollutant load of small treatment plants remains marginal. Reduction efforts must be concentrated on agricultural inputs especially in “vulnerable zones" where specific agricultural practices are imposed to limit the risks of pollution. In the AQUAE project, the sensors robustness will be demonstrated in the range 1-100 mg/L, at least with daily measurements to prevent any accidental event and with a t of 30 min to follow the denitrification process, in agreement with surface water analysis and industrial applications. The 0.05-1 mg/L range is a bonus for seawater analyses.

The breakthrough discovery of ferrocene in 1951 has paved the way of metallocenes chemistry, a family of compounds in which two aromatics rings surround a metallic cation, here an iron ion. Prototypical compound of this family, ferrocene exhibits a high stability in various conditions and can even be stored at air without any notable decomposition. Cheapest of the metallocenes, ferrocene is therefore the most employed for various applications in sensing, catalysis, material and medicinal chemistry. A key parameter of this success lies in the planar chirality of ferrocene when two different substituents are on the same ring. However, these developments are limited to derivatives which are monosubstituted (one substituent on one cycle), 1,1’-disubstituted (one substituent on each cycle) and 1,2-disubstituted (two adjacent substituents on the same cycle). In sharp contrast, ferrocene featuring on original substitution pattern (1,3-disubstituted or 1,2,4-trisubstituted) or bearing 4 or 5 substituents on the same ring have been scarcely studied. However, they have specific properties resulting from the large angle between two substituents or from the fine tuning of steric and electronic properties for specific applications. The lack of general synthesis of such derivative, combined with purification troubles upon the successive introduction of substituents, explain why they do not benefit from more applications. Furthermore, the limited number of described examples combined with the absence of ferrocene-dedicated database does not allow properties predictions. The goal of the Ferrodance project is to fill that void with the development of a synthetic approach towards these compounds. Therefore, we will functionalize ferrocenic C-H bonds using strong bases for introducing a halogen atom on a remote position, especially in an enantioselective way. Post-functionalization reactions will afford polysubstituted ferrocene derivatives bearing up to five different substituents on the same ring. The electrochemical study of the various compounds made will allow the development of an easy amenable purification process able to solve the longstanding problem of ferrocene derivatives purification. Finally, we will benefit from the structural diversity accessible through Ferrodance to initiate the development of a ferrocene-dedicated database. In the future, its exploration will allow the establishment of structure-property relationships and will help the rational choice of a ferrocene compound for specific applications.

The main research interests of this project are situated at the interface of organic, polymer chemistry and photochemistry and focus on a wide range of polymer-related research fields, such as the design of macromolecular architectures with highly-defined functionality and composition, with a strong focus on advanced light-induced methodologies and fundamental investigations into polymerization and surface functionalization mechanisms and kinetics. To reach these objectives, our approach is based on the two-photon assisted fabrication of 3D polymer materials and their two-photon assisted post-functionalization with molecular luminescent probes. The primary purposes of the project concern: a) the rational design of cross-linked photopolymers with accessible and clickable surface groups, by using spatially localized 2-photon direct laser writing; b) the design and grafting of fluorescent probes at the surface of these microstructures, using 2-photon photoclick processes, so that their optical properties, sensitivity and selectivity will be transposed to the materials; c) optimizing the surface-to-volume ratio of the structures to favor probe-analyte interactions and amplify the detection signal, leading to efficient luminescent sensing sub-micromaterials. Scientifically, the design and fabrication of sub-microscale surface-functional synthetic objects is a challenge: how much complexity can be implemented at such a small scale? One prerequisite is spatial resolution. Two-photon assisted polymerization offers means for achieving this goal with a high spatial resolution and 3-dimensional localization. Some of us demonstrated the potential of two-photon induced fabrication of intricate and periodic structures, at the micrometer scale. In the frame of this project, fractal inspired layouts will be investigated to enhance the specific surface/volume ratio of the materials and optimize the accessibility of latent acrylate groups for a rapid and facile surface functionalization. A second concern is surface functionalization. The advantages of photo-click chemistry will be combined with the high spatial resolution of laser light two-photon excitation. Fluorescent sensors will serve as proof-of-concept models. Applying iterative site-by-site post-functionalization will allow us to progressively construct the functionality/mapping relationship leading to a new generation of integrated multisensors: the surface functionalization of 3D sub-micro-sized materials will thus be used to push one more step ahead the developments of multiplex sensors. The sensing properties of the final materials will be insured by taking benefit of the fluorescence of pyrazoline units. The originality of this project overtakes the simple limits of the challenging design of chemo-responsive 3D materials through aspects such as a) the control of spatial localization of functions at the surface of photo-polymerized objects; b) the nano-structuration of these objects for optimizing the interactions at the interface; c) multiplexing for detection and identification of complex analytes. Significant achievement is anticipated to address synthetic and technological aspects linked to the optimization of 2-photon polymerization procedures toward activatable platforms; the implementation of photo-click reactions for their spatially located functionalization; molecular recognition and photophysical studies on photo-induced electron processes; solid-state emission to get information on the material structure, aggregation, quenching and sensitization processes. Additional to these basic contributions, this project may contribute to broader societal objectives, through advances in areas such as sensing for air quality, water quality, detection of volatile organic compounds, sensing for defence and security, food technology...

Electron paramagnetic resonance is a tool choice to probe and understand the dynamics of electron spin in molecules and materials. In its pulsed variation, it is possible to perform NMR detected by EPR, distance measurement or imaging. However this technic suffers from the obligation to magnetically dilute the system to study in order to increase the relaxation time. Our project proposes the opposite approach by using non-magnetic defects in strongly correlated organic magnets as EPR probes. This will permit to the large family of strongly correlated organic magnets to be compatible with pulse EPR. Ultimately, we will use the strongly correlated defect as a candidate quantum bit and its possible communication through the organic magnet.