Innovating with Graphene: The GIANCE Project’s Vision for Green Materials
GIANCE: Graphene Alliance for Sustainable Multifunctional Materials to Tackle Environmental Challenges
Project dates: Oct 2023 – Sep 2026
Consortium: 23 partners across Europe
Funding body: HORIZON EUROPE
Project overview
The GIANCE project is developing innovative graphene-based materials with a focus on sustainable, high-performance solutions for a range of industries. The project’s objective is to address environmental challenges by developing affordable, lightweight, and recyclable graphene-related materials.
GIANCE’s core objective is to drive the advancement of graphene-based multifunctional composites, coatings, foams, and membranes. These innovative materials offer enhanced properties, including durability, thermal resistance, and improved safety, making them ideal for a range of sectors, including automotive, aerospace, and energy.
Challenge: Why is the project needed?
GIANCE addresses the need for materials that reduce environmental impact and align with the EU’s goals for sustainability and innovation. Existing materials often lack the required performance characteristics or are too costly, which limits their use in demanding sectors such as aerospace and automotive. By focusing on graphene-based materials, GIANCE is addressing these challenges head-on, creating solutions that are not only high-performing but also recyclable and cost-effective. This is an essential offering for industries aiming to reduce carbon emissions and meet stricter environmental regulations.
Project approach
GIANCE’s consortium unites experts from a range of disciplines to develop and validate graphene-based materials with advanced properties, including corrosion resistance, high-temperature tolerance, and fire resistance. The project is focused on both material innovation and manufacturing, with the objective of improving synthesis and ensuring environmental sustainability. GIANCE will demonstrate the effectiveness of these materials through 11 use cases, testing in real-world conditions across a range of industries.
Impact
GIANCE is set to make substantial progress in the field of sustainable materials, validating and commercialising graphene-based solutions across a range of key sectors. By the end of the project, GIANCE anticipates having developed prototypes for hydrogen storage, advanced coatings, and water treatment applications, which will enhance the competitiveness of EU industries. Furthermore, these developments could result in greater market penetration of graphene-based materials, strengthening the EU’s competitive position in the global graphene market.
Future Outlook: Long-term sustainability benefits
By reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, the project contributes to long-term environmental sustainability. GIANCE also fosters ongoing partnerships across sectors to maintain momentum beyond the project timeline, encouraging further innovation in graphene technologies. The project aligns with the Graphene Flagship initiative, suggesting that its results will support continued R&D efforts and industrial applications, helping to establish a durable European supply chain for advanced materials.
Project partners
