Project title

Modelling of the interaction between metal to nanoparticles under flow condition from the angstrom to the macroscopic scale - MODESCALE

Call for expression of interest description

The Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) programme is a highly prestigious renowned EU-funded scheme. It offers talented scientists a unique chance to set up 2-year research and training projects with the support of a supervising team. Besides providing an attractive grant, it represents a major opportunity to boost the career of promising researchers.  

The Geosciences-Rennes laboratory is thus looking for excellent postdoctoral researchers with an international profile to write a persuasive proposal to apply for a Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship grant in 2023 (deadline of the EU call set on 13 September 2023). The topic and research team presented below have been identified in this regard.

Main Research Field

Environment and Geosciences (ENV)

Research sub-field(s)

Chemistry, Geochemistry, numerical modelling, mathematics, physics

Keywords

Modeling, nanoparticle, metal, computational sciences, spectroscopy, isotopy, microfluidic

Research project description

• Context

Whether anthropogenic or natural, nanoparticles are present and even ubiquitous in the environment. Industrial activities, production of waste, especially plastics, but also climate warming through the increase in soil erosion or the permafrost thawing increase their concentration and release in the various compartments of the environment. Nanoparticles may be natural and have always occurred in the environment1, but the increase in their release and concentration linked to their strong surface reactivity and colloidal stability2 allows them to both drive and modify the biogeochemical cycles of certain elements and also control the mobility and transfer processes of pollutants, particularly metallic ones. Numerous field studies were carried out and demonstrated the role of nanoparticles in transporting metallic pollutants, especially in the 90s and 2000s. A revival of interest occurred in the 2010s with production and release of anthropogenic nanoparticles produced by industry and more recently by the degradation of plastic waste especially in ecotoxicology studies. However, none molecular, thermodynamic or macroscopic model is currently able to reproduce and predict their behavior and their impact on environmental metal fluxes.

• Major locks and problematic

Many reasons could explain this failure. Some are inherent to the high reactivity of nanoparticles regarding the prevailing physico-chemical conditions such as, their ability to homo- or hetero-aggregate for this such as the sampling and. Some others are technical such as, the sampling and conservation techniques, which remain poorly adapted or the lack of analytical methods allowing detecting and even quantifying them in natural samples that fail to provide reliable datasets absolutely necessary to develop, calibrate and validate the models. The experimental studies could, at a certain time, be considered as a valid alternative but most of them were carried out under static conditions without taking into account the flow conditions which however prevail under environmental conditions.

However, if we consider that the nanoparticle-metal interactions occur at multiple scales, from the angstrom (bonds between atoms), to the macroscopic scales (flux) through the pore scale (mobilization/immobilization). Therefore, if modelling is able to take into account these different scales, it could counteract the technical locks and finally make it possible to evaluate the control exerted by nanoparticles on metal flows in the environment. To achieve these objectives, the developed model could rely on different characterization (e.g. synchrotron radiation) or tracing (i.e. isotopy) methods. An interesting and original experimental way to obtain the datasets necessary to implement a new modeling approach is the microfluidics. Microfluidics is increasingly used in environmental science3 because of the possibilities it offers in terms of visualization of in situ processes coupled to its precision in the regulation of flow rates. Moreover observations at the atomic to the pore scales has recently become possible thanks to microfluidic devices and their combination to various analytical techniques such as X-ray spectroscopy (XAS)4.

• Scientific objectives

Relevant approaches will include the production of relevant datasets on metal-nanoparticles using microfluidic devices coupled to spectroscopic and physicochemical technics (ii) development of model coupling atomic, molecular and thermodynamic interactions under flow conditions. Isotopic tracing and labelling could be used to improve the identification of the involved mechanisms. Relative to the candidate skills, various modeling approaches including computational modeling and multiscale simulations as well as quantum modeling, will be developed.

(1)        Pokrovsky, O. S.; Viers, J.; Shirokova, L. S.; Shevchenko, V. P.; Filipov, A. S.; Dupré, B. Dissolved, Suspended, and Colloidal Fluxes of Organic Carbon, Major and Trace Elements in the Severnaya Dvina River and Its Tributary. Chem. Geol.2010, 273 (1–2), 136–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2010.02.018.

(2)        Gigault, J.; El Hadri, H.; Nguyen, B.; Grassl, B.; Rowenczyk, L.; Tufenkji, N.; Feng, S.; Wiesner, M. Nanoplastics Are Neither Microplastics nor Engineered Nanoparticles. Nat. Nanotechnol.2021, 16 (5), 501–507. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-00886-4.

(3)        Wang, T.; Yu, C.; Xie, X. Microfluidics for Environmental Applications. In Microfluidics in Biotechnology; Bahnemann, J., Grünberger, A., Eds.; Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology; Springer International Publishing: Cham, 2022; pp 267–290. https://doi.org/10.1007/10_2020_128.

(4)        Chaussavoine, I.; Beauvois, A.; Mateo, T.; Vasireddi, R.; Douri, N.; Priam, J.; Liatimi, Y.; Lefrançois, S.; Tabuteau, H.; Davranche, M.; Vantelon, D.; Bizien, T.; Chavas, L. M. G.; Lassalle-Kaiser, B. The Microfluidic Laboratory at Synchrotron SOLEIL. J. Synchrotron Radiat.2020, 27 (1), 230–237. https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577519015042.

Supervisor(s)

The Postdoctoral Fellow will be supervised by Prof. Mélanie Davranche and Dr. Aline Dia

Prof. Mélanie Davranche (Female, Co-supervisor of the project) - Full-time Professor at the University of Rennes - Experienced chemist of interface, she has worked on (emerging) contaminants through an original coupled approach linking experimentation in controlled conditions, field analyses, spectroscopic analysis (such as EXAFS) and beyond, also modeling. Although working for a long time on Rare Earth Elements or arsenic, she moved also to hot environmental issues related to plastic contamination and, the characterization of the little of them: the nanoplastics whose dissemination became a critical issue since they also are major carriers of other contaminants. She published 73 articles in the top-ranked journals (total citation index of ~3364 (4771) in Web of Science - Publications only (Google Scholar) and H-index=34 (40)). Awarded the CNRS Bronze medal, she has also been member of the prestigious Institut Universitaire de France. She supervised a large amount of PhD students, was responsible of national and international projects amongst them the MSCA ITN PANORAMA project (2020-2024). She has also been largely involved in collective responsabilities at the University of Rennes.

(https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gtKS_iIAAAAJ&hl=fr&oi=ao)

Dr. Aline Dia (Female, Supervisor of the project) - Full-time CNRS Research Director - Experienced trace-metal and isotope geochemist, she has worked on trace metals (including emerging contaminants such as, Rare Earth Elements but also more classical ones, arsenic, copper, lead, etc.) source fingerprinting and transfer in different Earth’s compartments and processes affecting their fate notably within wetlands and the Critical Zone (Research years after PhD: 35, supervision of 13 Ph.D.). She published 77 articles (only publications) in the top-ranked journals (total citation index of ~3912 (5399) in Web of Science - Publications only (Google Scholar) and H-index=37 (42)). She is the Deputy Leader of the funded MSCA-PANORAMA project (2020-2024), was responsible for 11 scientific projects, and has also been an Institute Project Officer of the French CNRS-National Institute of Universe Sciences (so-called INSU) since 2011.

(https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dnv8SxEAAAAJ&hl=fr&oi=ao)

Relevant Publication :

Blancho, F., Davranche, M., Marsac, R., Leon, A., Dia, A., Grassl, B., Reynaud, S., Gigault, J Metals binding processes on Nanoplastics: Rare earth elements as a probe. (2022. Environmental Science: Nano. (IF: 8.131)

R. Marsac, C. Catrouillet, M. Davranche, M. Bouhnik-Le Coz, N. Briant, N. Janot, A. Otero-Fariña, J. Groenenberg, M. Pédrot, and A. Dia, Modeling rare earth elements binding to humic acids with Model VII (2021) Chemical Geology (sous presse) (IF = 3.362)

A. Wahl, C. Le Juge, M. Davranche, H. El Hadri, B. Grassl, S. Reynaud, J. Gigault. Nanoplastic occurrence in a soil amended with plastic debris (2021). Chemosphère 127784 (IF : 5.350)

Department/

Research                     

University of Rennes (UR) is a multidisciplinary institution consisting of 3 main scientific areas: Science & Technology, Health, Human & Social sciences. It welcomes about 29,000 students, all surrounded by 1,900 teachers & full-time researchers and about 1,100 administrative & technical staff. UR1 is committed to endorse the HRS4R strategy.

The present project will be managed by the University of Rennes,  which is fully experienced in this field with dedicated staff in legal, financial, and administrative issues. 1nternationally renowned in several domains (biogeochemistry hydrogeology, geomorphology, and tectonics) through the field, analytical, experimental, and numerical modeling approaches, Géosciences Rennes (https://geosciences.univ-rennes.fr/) includes a total staff of about 130 members, notably 55 teaching and research people and 23 engineers/technicians. Other people are Ph.D. (around 42) and post-docs. It hosts ~12 foreign researchers/year and publishes ~ 200 papers/year. It received top marks during the 2021 evaluation, and several national and international awards. The post-doc will be hosted in the Nanoscale group.

Location

Geosciences-Rennes, Campus de Beaulieu, Université de Rennes.

Suggestion for interdisciplinary / intersectoral secondments and placements

A 3-month secondment can be envisaged at the IRL Takuvik (Laval University , Canada) on the supervision of Dr. Julien Gigault who is an expert on the physico-chemical chemistry of nanoparticles.

Skills Requirements 

Specific Skill Requirements

• Excellent skill in quantum, or molecular, or thermodynamic modelling and computational simulation
•  Understanding of concepts and applications in geochemistry, physico chemistry and isotopy
• Experimental  and analytical skills including experience in geochemistry
• Previous experience working in a chemistry laboratory and more especially in clean laboratory;
• Basic experience with ICP-MS techniques or other mass spectrometry techniques;
• Basic experience with microfluidic concept and implementing;
• Ability to deal with multidisciplinary topics linking geochemistry, physico-chemistry sciences and modelling;
• Ability to work both as part of a team, and independently, coupled with excellent communication, organizational and problem-solving skills.

Required Languages

• Fluent written/verbal communication in English

Other skills

• Ability to synthesize complex technical and scientific information;
• Ability to handle multiple project assignments with strict deadlines;

Publications

• High efficiency in publishing in peer-reviewed international journals is required. It is expected that the candidate published at least 1 international indexed journal article per year since the PhD as a first author.

Eligibility criteria

for applicants

Academic qualification: By 13 September 2023, applicants must bein possession of a doctoral degree, defined as a successfully defended doctoral thesis, even if the doctoral degree has yet to be awarded.

Research experience: Applicants must have a maximum of 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research, measured from the date applicants were in possession of a doctoral degree. Years of experience outside research and career breaks (e.g. due to parental leave), will not be taken into account.

Nationality & Mobility rules:Applicants can be of any nationality but must not have resided in France more than 12 months between 13/09/2020 and 13/09/2023

Application process

We encourage all motivated and eligible postdoctoral researchers to send their expressions of interest through the EU Survey application form (link here), before 1st of May 2023. Your application shall include:

• a CV specifying: (i) the exact dates for each position and its location (country) and (ii) a list of publications;

• a cover letter including a research outline (up to 2 pages) identifying the research synergies with the project supervisor(s) and proposed research topics described above.

Estimated timetable

Deadline for sending an expression of interest

1st of  May 2023

Selection of the most promising application(s)

May – June 2023

Writing the MSCA-PF proposal with the support of the above-mentioned supervisor(s)

June – September 2023

  MSCA-PF 2023 call deadline

13 September 2023

Publication of the MSCA-PF evaluation results

 February 2024

Start of the MSCA-PF project (if funded)

1st of  May 2024 (at the earliest)