UNIYARNS will be the second European Research Council (ERC) grant awarded to Juan José Vilatela, who in 2016 was awarded a Starting Grant entitled STEM to study structural energy harvesting composite materials.

After a successful project that led to many high-impact publications, patents and in the last term, to the foundation of a spin-off (Floatech), UNIYARNS will study fundamental steps of the floating catalyst chemical vapour deposition (FCCVD) process, with the goal of establishing a universal route for the gas-phase assembly of one-dimensional nanomaterials into kilometric yarns, applicable to materials central to a diversity of applications like energy, catalysis or optoelectronics.