PEPR DIADEM/AMETHIST

With global production of almost 380 million tonnes a year, polymer materials play a central role in modern society. They are used in the manufacture of countless everyday products, and as more sophisticated compounds in medicine, diagnostics and fine chemistry.

However, new economic and societal constraints require more rational design and alternative methods of synthesising, formulating and shaping polymers to meet the need for greater sustainability and more virtuous management of their end-of-life, while maintaining optimum performance in application.

The polymer materials of the future will be one of the pillars of the circular economy. The recent development of High Throughput Processing (HTP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods opens up enormous possibilities for meeting these challenges. While such methods are emerging in chemistry, they have not yet been implemented in France in the field of polymer science.

As a proof of concept, the AMETHIST demonstrator project proposes to combine all these areas by using a combination of HTP and AI methods to address three separate case studies in the field of polymers. The issues addressed have been chosen for their relevance in meeting urgent scientific and societal challenges: higher-performance, sustainable materials derived from non-critical, non-toxic raw materials.

• Case study 1 - Design of polymeric materials with programmable degradability ;
• Case studies 2a and 2b - Organic-inorganic materials based on polymers, nanocomposites and hybrid composites;
• Case study 3 - Bio-based polymer materials.

In each case study, for each type of material, the HTP synthesis and characterisation method will be implemented at the molecular, macromolecular and materials scales. The data from the HTP analysis will be used to feed machine learning approaches to determine the best combination with the multiple targeted properties. The optimised materials designed by the AI will be manufactured and evaluated.

The BIA Unit, with its expertise in biopolymers and polysaccharides in particular, will cover research into biobased polymer materials (case study 3).

Project acronym: AMETHIST
Project developed name: AI and high throughput methods guiding the design of polymeric materials
Start date - End date: 2022-2026
Funding :  PIA 4- Programme et équipement de recherche prioritaire (PEPR DIADEM: ‘Integrated devices for accelerating the deployment of emerging materials’)
Total budget / Total grants for BIA: 1.2 Meuros/400 keuros
Partners: IMP INSA Lyon, LCPO Univ Bordeaux, BIA INRAE Nantes
Coordination: Jean-François Gérard, IMP INSA Lyon
BIA teams involved : NANO, BIBS, PVPP