Amandine Cadiaux: A project on air purification with the "Make our Planet Great Again" program

Air quality is essential for the well-being of all living things (animals, plants, humans). Unfortunately, intensive vehicle use and industrial emissions pollute the atmosphere around us. Toxic gases such as NOx and SOx are found in significant quantities in the air we breathe, causing serious health problems and contributing to disasters such as acid rain and, more broadly, global warming. The solution proposed by the APPAT project is to use porous materials that selectively capture these toxic gases (SO₂, NO₂, NO, CO₂) in order to break them down and/or convert them using catalytic processes. This project covers several aspects: the synthesis of new materials, their gas capture properties, and the catalytic breakdown/conversion of the trapped gas.

Previously a researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia ( since September 2013), Amandine CADIAU specializes in the synthesis and characterization of innovative MOF (metallic organic framework) materials.

She defended her doctoral thesis in Le Mans (2010), then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), the University of Aveiro (Portugal), and the Institut Lavoisier in Versailles (France). In Saudi Arabia, she worked on a project funded by ARAMCO (Saudi Arabian Oil Company), which aimed to use these new porous materials for their natural gas purification properties, before launching a project in collaboration with the prestigious Georgia Tech University.

• 22 publications
• 4 patents:
  • Adsorbents comprising nano-porous organic-inorganic hybrid materials for water sorption;
  • Organic metal platforms for absorbing CO2 and H2S from natural gas;
  • Highly stable organic metal complexes Ni-M F6-H2O/Onpyrazine2(solvent)x and methods of use;
  • Highly stable organic metal frameworks

In June 2009, she was awarded^second prize for communication by the Doctoral School of Matter, Molecules, and Materials ( Angers, France) and in November 2011, she received the "Thesis Prize, Chemistry" from the French Association of Crystallography.

The MOPGA program

Launched by the President of the Republic in 2017, the MOPGA program rewards high-level scientific projects on topics related to climate and global change (climate, energy, earth and environmental sciences, etc.). It is aimed at researchers who do not reside in France and who wish to develop their research projects in France, in collaboration with French partners.

In addition to funding from supervisory bodies and support from the Occitanie region, which is contributing 50% of the government's commitment to MOPGA-certified projects, the project will receive funding from I-SITE MUSE for the recruitment of Abdelali Aki on a one-year postdoctoral contract starting in September 2019.