We have just received great news that the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation has granted a two-year project for us to study hackmanite’s optical energy storage and light emission properties. Here is a news about it (in Finnish):
IMC received funding from the Foundation for Research of Natural Resources in Finland for a three-year project called Soda-Lights, which is a pun on “sodalites”: as many already know, hackmanite, a wonder material belonging to the group of sodalite minerals, shines visible light under UV radiation. In this project, the aim is to produce these luminescent sodalites using Finland’s national mineral resources, and its main purpose is to produce white light in LEDs. Sodalites contain elements that are not endangered or rare, in contrast to cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG:Ce), which contains non-sustainable elements and is used in LEDs today.
Business Finland has granted IMC project money for 18 months to study further one of the materials developed in our group. Although not much can be publicly disclosed about the material, this is yet again a marvelous opportunity for us to optimize one of our own intelligent materials for commercial use.
From waste to next generation molecular materials
The joint project of IMC and the University of Jyväskylä received a total of € 500,000 in funding from the Technology Industries of Finland’s Centennial Foundation and the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation in The Future Makers funding round. The project is led by Professor Ari Väisänen while Academy Researcher Jani Moilanen and IMC’s Mika Lastusaari lead their sub-projects.
About the project: “The need for critical metals, such as rare earths, will increase in the future. These metals are needed in electric cars, lights, wind turbines and electronic devices, for example. The recycling of rare earths is low due to the lack of efficient and environmentally friendly recycling methods. The project will develop new next-generation materials based on rare earths. The metals to be processed are recovered from industrial waste and by-product streams.“
Read more: https://techfinland100.fi/tulevaisuuden-tekijat-2021-vaisanen/
Emilia received a travel grant from Finnish Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry Association FinTAC ry (www) for the 7th EuCheMS Chemistry Congress (www) held in Liverpool, United Kingdom on 26–30th of August. The grant was awarded to her at the FinTAC ry meeting in Tampere university of Technology by the chairman Prof. Vesa-Pekka Lehto (right) and M.Sc. (Tech.) Markus M. Hackspik. Congratulations, Emilia!
In addition, check out new collaboration publication about borosilicate glasses with persistent luminescence.
Del Cerro, P.R., Salminen, T., Lastusaari, M., and Petit, L., “Persistent luminescent borosilicate glasses using direct particles doping method”, Scripta Mater. 151 (2018) 38-41.
Read online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2018.03.034
Esko got funding for his PhD topic in “Near infra-red absorbing metal complexes and their use in solar energy” from Walter Ahlström foundation, Minnea got additional funding from Finnish Cultural Foundation into “Luminescent materials and perovskites in solar energy” and Emilia got funded by Vilho, Yrjö and Kalle Väisälä foundation. Congrats to all and keep doing the good job!
Walter Ahsltrömin säätiö apurahat (www)
Suomen kulttuurirahasto (www)
Väisälä apurahat 2017 (pdf)
Here are also some news about the Eskos funding, unfortunately only in Finnish.
University of Turku news (www)
Technology Academy of Finland (www)
Isabella got funding for additional 12 months from Fininsh Cultural Foundation, Varsinais-Suomi Regional fund for her research in the manufacturing of tenebrescent and persistent luminescence materials. Congratulations, Isabella!
Minnea got funding for 12 months on her doctoral studies concerning luminescent materials and perovskites in solar energy harvesting from The Magnus Ehrnrooth foundation. Congratulations, Minnea!
Congratulations are in order for Pasi, he got a funded position in the Doctoral Programme in Physical and Chemical Sciences (PCS) to work on his doctoral studies.
This means that Pasi is delightfully stuck with us for the next four years – we are very happy to have you!
PCS Doctoral programme (homepage)
PCS September 2016 call decision (pdf)
Isabella got a funding her doctoral studies from “Young researchers grant” from Turun yliopistosäätiö for a year. Congratulations, Isabella!