The Advanced Materials for Sustainable Future Technologies research line is devoted to the development of new materials for a sustainable pathway to reduce CO₂ emissions, to explore new energy conversion and storage methods, as well as to enforce the adoption of 3D printing for metals as a direct manufacturing process, thus enabling a cost- and resource-efficient production, and to apply a brand-new approach to cybernetic systems by means of smart colloids. Liquid state materials are being assessed for the realization of energetic (CERESlab) and other cybernetic subsystem components including logics, locomotion and sensing.

In addition to the mentioned activities, the research line also includes the development of advanced sEMG (Electromyography) devices.

• CO₂ reduction: we develop low-cost and environmental-friendly nanostructured Cu-based and SnO₂-based catalysts for the CO₂ reduction, obtaining CO and formate respectively.
• CO₂ capture: Ionic liquids (Ils) and Dendrimers/hyperbranced polymers (Hypos) has been developed for CO₂ capture. Ils produced from metabolic molecules (e.g. aminoacids) are green and sustainable, offering the advantages of regeneration using lesser energy than classical amine systems. Polymer solutions containing CO₂-philic groups is a class of liquids able to absorb CO₂ with negligible vapor pressure. Hypos because of the low surface/volume ratio have reduced intermolecular interaction and lower viscosity with respect to linear functionalized polymers.
• Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) is the most used 3D printing technology for metals. A laser beam melts metallic powders allowing the production of near net shape components, with a high degree of freedom in designing. However, the actual materials portfolio for LPBF is very narrow and limited to materials used in traditional manufacturing routes. Powders suppliers catalogues have just two or three aluminum casting alloys with very similar compositions and properties. Therefore, our laboratory aims to develop new materials such as high-strength and highly electrical and thermal conductive aluminum alloys.
• CERES lab: Waste Heat to Power (WHP) conversion is one among the most important milestones of the environmentally friendly thermodynamic processes of the future and a key point in the mission of the research line and of the whole research centre. Several prototypal platforms have been developed to enable low-temperature liquid-state heat conversion into electromagnetic energy. Such systems are based on nanostructured smart fluids, exploiting some nanoscale physical effects, like thermomagnetic advection, triboelectricity, and pyroelectricity.
• The Artificial Physiology Lab is mainly working on an additional research line dedicated to the development of advanced sEMG (Electromyography) devices. These devices will be developed and used to better control an upper limb prostheses, to measure muscle activation during rehabilitation exercises and to study a new control strategy for the lower limb exoskeleton. The Lab is carrying out two clinical trials with clinical partners and working on new scenarios such as sports and fitness or industry 4.0 to interact with machines and robots.

The research line can count on fully equipped chemical laboratories for the chemical synthesis, and on facilities for the structural, morphological, chemical, electrochemical, electrical and mechanical characterization of materials. In addition, through the collaboration with external laboratories (Politecnico di Torino, Università degli Studi di Torino e del Piemonte Orientale), complementary techniques and facilities not present in the Center are also available.

• OCEAN “Oxalic acid from CO2 using Eletrochemistry At demonstratioN scale“
• RECODE  “Recycling carbon dioxide in the cement industry to produce added-value additives: a step towards a CO2 circular economy”
• CO2 Circle Lab (Acronym CCL)
• STORE&GO – “Innovative large-scale energy STORagE technologies AND Power-to Gas concepts after Optimisation
• ECCO - “Energy Efficient Coil Coating Process”
• INTHERM – “Design, manufacturing and control of INterfaces in THERMally conductive polymer nanocomposites”
• HEAT-TO-FUEL -“Biorefinery combining HTL and FT to convert wet and solid organic, industrial wastes into 2nd generation biofuels with highest efficiency”
• SMART 3D - "Filiera produttiva dispositivi polimerici Smart 3D"
• STAMP - "Sviluppo Tecnologico dell'Additive Manufacturing in Piemonte"
• HOME - "Hierarchical Open Manufacturing Europe"
• MELA - "Miniaturized sEmg for Lifting Activities

The research line has well-established national collaborations within the IIT network, with national research institutes as CNR and INRIM, and with national and international academic institutions like Universities and Engineering schools, together with collaborations with the European participants to the projects funded within the H2020 programme and with the partners of regional projects. Foreign excellence centres have established with us specific Memorandum of Understandings: Jet Propulsion Laboratory-NASA, Max Planck Institute and Russian Academy of Sciences. It also can count on collaboration with SMEs as well as big companies.