Safe- and sustainable-by-design organic and hybrid coatings (RIA)

The largest share of the organic coatings market belongs to a family containing Polyfluorinated Alkyl substances (PFAS), used in a wide variety of consumer and industrial products. Research will therefore target development of innovative PFAS-free materials with inherently surface active functions to be used for multi-industrial sector applications. (e.g. novel bio-based materials). The proposals should focus on integration of sustainable-by-design aspects including safety (toxicity), circularity and functionality of advanced coating materials and techniques (e.g. nanostructured self-healing or omniphobicity), throughout their lifecycle. Projects should include one or more of the following aspects:

• Materials design supported by in silico methods for predicting hazards (toxicity) and fate to reduce additive exposure/leaching to humans and the environment;
• Development of alternatives maintaining functionality as well as reducing hazard and/or exposure (persistence) profiles with the aid of modelling, in order to reduce animal and experimental testing;
• Development of assays and approaches to demonstrate the reduction of hazard and/or exposure profiles of the new (alternative) advanced materials in a streamlined and robust manner to support route to market.

The proposals, activities and approaches should cover both - specific considerations for the organic and hybrid coatings under study, as well as developing overarching best practices that spans broader sectors of safe- and sustainable-by-design materials. Proposals should involve all the actors in the value chain.

Proposals submitted under this topic should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination.

Leveraging the extensive experience from relevant initiatives and aligning with other EU-funded projects targeting safe- and sustainable- by-design materials, in particular under CSA topic HORIZON-CL4-2021-RESILIENCE-01-08, is essential.

This topic is open for international cooperation where the EU has reciprocal benefit, while excluding industrial competitors from countries where the safeguarding of IPRs cannot be guaranteed.