Jean-Christophe P. GABRIEL

Position

Prof. Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel now leads an international research group delocalised on both CEA Saclay and Nanyang Technological University (2024 World’s second best university in Material Science). Members of the group in NTU are focussing on developing e-waste recycling process steps. In Saclay, in addition to e-waste recycling, the group also investigate nanomaterials, their synthesis, characterisation, processing and applications.

Research

His group current fields of interest are the following:

  1. Waste recycling: we are developing tools and processes for improving various wastes recycling to enable more economically viable waste processing. Our efforts in this field started in 2013 and focussed at the time on an integrated microfluidic lab-on-chip that enables much faster exploration of multidimensional phase diagrams of complex fluids. Such lab-on-chip devices integrate various sensors as well as characterizations methods (such as FTIR in hollow waveguides, or X-ray fluorescence). This work was first funded, from 2013 until 2018, by the advanced ERC project REE-CYCLE, which aimed at developing new rare earth extraction/recycling processes, at least 10 times more efficient that current liquid-liquid extraction processes, where JCG was acting co-PI. Since then, within the SCARCE CEA/NTU joint laboratory in Singapore (2018-2028; budget of 20 Mn€), we have further developed the fast process development microfluidic platform as well as expanded our efforts to other process steps in the recycling of e-waste (Printed Circuit boards – PCBs, plastics from e-wastes), such has:
    • PCBs and PV dismantling and associated electronic component sorting;
    • Physical method based separation; Critical metals recovery and purification;
    • Critical metals recovery and purification;
    • Liquid-liquid and Solid-liquid hydrometallurgical recovery process steps development using the world first microfluidic platform integrating on line FTIR and XRF.
    • Use of supercritical fluid as a green solvent for e-waste recycling.
  2. Nanomaterials: In our laboratory, we synthesize and characterize low dimensionality materials (0, 1 and 2D), by all means necessary and available (from visual/microscopic observations to the use of synchrotrons for the structural investigations of materials). These materials can often be exfoliated/dispersed in solution leading to some complex/colloidal fluids, exhibiting a very wide range of fascinating behaviours (see here for a video of my presentation on the subject at NTU’s workshop on polyelectrolytes). They can also be integrated into various types of devices, hence the following topic.
  3. Integration:
    • Thanks to the awarded ANR Project 4WATER (12/2017-12/2022) (see video of presentation): we are elaborating new and cheap multi-target chemical sensor arrays for the continuous monitoring of groundwater quality. Using a microelectronic approach, the sensors will be based on functionalized nanomaterials and that will target various ions selected for their relevance as regards the quality of fresh water.
    • Thanks to the awarded ANR Project 2D-MEMBA (2022-2025): we integrate nanomaterials for the making of less power-hungry membranes for the purification of water.

For more details on our research group look here.

Other duties

  1. Member of the Scientific Council of Arc Nucleart
  2. Editorial duties:

Results highlights

In the NEWS

CV

Dr. Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel is Research Director and one of CEA’s Felow in Chemistry. Since September 2020, his French laboratory is located in CEA Saclay with a special focus on 1D and 2D nanomaterials and their applications as well as on the development of waste recycling processes. He is also currently a visiting Professor at NTU where he serves, since August 2018, as co-director of the NTU Singapore CEA Alliance for Research in Circular Economy (SCARCE), CEA’s first joint laboratory outside French territory (comprising ~25 postdocs and Engineers). There he directly co-supervise, together with Prof. Alex Yan Qingyu, a team of ~10 postdocs, PhDs, Engineers and interns in the field of e-waste and Prinited Circuit Board recycling.

He first joined the French Alternative Energy and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in 2007 as CEA/LETI institute’s “Beyond CMOS” program manager as well as the business director of the academic – industry Caltech – LETI alliance, which led, years later, to the creation of the Startup Apix Technology.

From 2009 to 2016, he became deputy director of CEA’s Nanoscience program (budget: 1 M€/year), help defining, financing, networking, growing, communicating and prospering seed projects and young researchers. Hence, in this role of scientific project manager, he helped the maturation of TRL=0 ideas, trained young researchers in writing very high impact factor articles (Nature and co), co-invented various technologies, helped on building successful project proposals (ERCs), as well as on the germination and business model definition at pre-seeding round of future startups such as NawaTechnologies, Aledia, cell&soft), and served in various the ANR in various roles, such as expert, project selection panels or committees.

In parallel, from 2013 to 2018, he was co-principal investigator of the REE-CYCLE advanced ERC project (2013-2018), that aimed at developing new rare earth extraction/recycling processes, at least 10 times more efficient that current liquid-liquid extraction processes. In his laboratory in Grenoble, created in 2014, he was developing integrated microfluidic lab-on-chip that enable much faster exploration of multidimensional phase diagrams of complex fluids, therefore enabling fast process development. Such lab-on-chip devices integrate various sensors as well as characterizations methods (such as FTIR in hollow waveguides, or the world first microfluidic-integrated Xray fluorescence spectrometer dedicated to hydrometallurgy studies).

Former student at the “Ecole Normale Supérieure” in Paris, he received his Ph.D. (1993), supervised by Dr. Patrick Batail, from University Paris-Saclay (formerly Orsay University) and his Habilitation from Grenoble-Alpes University (Formerly Joseph Fourier University). He completed his PhD training with two postdocs. The first in Risø National Laboratory, Denmark, under the supervision of Prof. Klaus Bechgaard, the second at the Material Research Laboratory a the University of California Santa Barbara, under the mentorship of Prof. Anthony K. Cheetham.

His career is a mixed academic – industrial one. He indeed started his tenured career with Prof. Jean Rouxel and Dr. Patrick Batail at CNRS (4 years at Jean Rouxel Institute, IMN, Nantes) followed by 6 years in the Californian startup Nanomix (nanomixdx.com), where he was one of the first employee. In this UC Berkeley’s spinoff he helped in the technology transfer of nanomaterials, hydrogen storage and carbon nanotubes technologies, helped raised $34 million of venture capital money and with his team was the first to put an integrated nanotube based electronic device on the market (a hydrogen sensor, in 2005). Since he left the company in August 2007, Nanomix has marketed fast electronic diagnostic tools (Ebola, COVID-19 etc.) based on, among others, patents that he co-invented.

Jean-Christophe has published more than ~ 80 papers in international peer reviewed journal and is co-inventor on more than 45 patents and patent applications, dealing with nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes, graphene) applications (sensors, H2 storage) and waste recycling processes.

Other profiles:

Recent Publications & Patents

2025

2024

  • « Printed Circuit Board Recycling: Focus on a Novel Efficient and Sustainable Process for Spent Critical Metals Recovery. » Nicolas M. Charpentier, Dong Xia, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Comptes Rendus Chim. 27(S4) pp. TBD, (2024). https://doi.org/10.5802/crchim.291  An article part of Special Issue: “GDR Prométhée – French Research Network on Hydrometallurgical Processes for Primary and Secondary Resources”; Guest editors: Laurent Cassayre and Hervé Muhr.
  • « Drivers and pathways for the recovery of critical metals from waste printed circuit boards. » Dong Xia, Carmen Lee, Nicolas M. Charpentier, Yuemin Deng, Qingyu Yan and Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Adv. Sc. 30, 2309635 (2024). (cover) https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202309635
  • « Gas permeation through V2O5 nanoribbons-based membrane. » Sarah M. Chevrier, Kunli Goh, Chong Yang Chuah, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Adv. Mater. Interfaces, Vol. TBD, 2400166 (2024). On line at https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400166  (This article also referenced in their Hot Topic: Membranes)
  • « Maximised lanthanide extraction by supercritical CO2 extraction using fluorinated organophosphate extractants. » Yuemin Deng, Dong Xia, Damien Bourgeois, Daniel Meyer, Stéphane Campidelli, Hélène Isnard, Victor Francois, Robin Ronceray, Bertrand Reygner, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, ACS Sustainable Resource Management 1(8) 1780–1790 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1021/acssusresmgt.4c00122 (cover)

2023

  • “Urban Mining of Unexploited Spent Critical Metals from E-waste Made Possible Using Advanced Sorting”
    Nicolas M. Charpentier, Ange A. Maurice, Dong Xia, Wen-Jie Li, Chang-Sian Chua, Andrea Brambilla, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Ressources, Conservation & Recycling 196, 107033 (September 2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107033

2022

  • “Efficient Electrocatalyst Nanoparticles from Upcycled Class II Capacitors”
    Junhua Xu, Daobin Liu, Carmen Lee, Pierre Feydi, Marlene Chapuis, Jing Yu, Emmanuel Billy, Qingyu Yan, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Nanomaterials 12(15) 2697 (05/082022) (in open access).
  • “Liquid-liquid extraction: thermodynamics-kinetics driven processes explored by microfluidics.”
    Fabien Olivier, Ange A. Maurice, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Comptes Rendus Chim. 25, 137-148 (2022). (in open access).
  • “Activated Recovery of PVC From Contaminated Waste Extension Cord-Cable Using a Weak Acid”
    Chunmiao Jia, Pallab Das, Qiang Zeng, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Chor Yong Tay, Jong-Min Lee, Chemosphere, 303(1) 134878 (2022) (in open access).
  • “Sustainable Route for Nd Recycling from Waste Electronic Components Featured with Unique Element-Specific Sorting Enabling Simplified Hydrometallurgy.”
    Dong Xia, Nicolas M. Charpentier, Ange A. Maurice, Andrea Brambilla, Qingyu Yan, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Chemical Engineering Journal, 441, 135886(2022) (in open access).
  • “Direct reuse of electronic plastic scraps to direct stem cell growth and differentiation.”
    Pujiang Shi, Chiew Kei Tan, Zhuoran Wu, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Madhavi Srinivasan, Jong-Min Lee and Chor Yong Tay, Science of the Total Environment, 807, 151085 (2022). Pre-proof version available for free on Hal repository.
  • “First online X‐ray fluorescence characterization of liquid‐liquid extraction in microfluidics”
    Ange A. Maurice, Johannes Theisen, Varun Rai, Fabien Olivier, Asmae El Maangar, Jean Duhamet, Thomas Zemb, Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Nano Select 3(2) (2022) 425-436.

2021

2020

2019

2018

Most Cited Publications and Patents
(~100+ citations, after google Scholar)*

* citation numbers last updated on 15/06/2022

1 Electronic detection of specific protein binding using nanotube FET devices
A Star, JCP Gabriel, K Bradley, G Grüner
Nano letters 3 (4), 459-463
986
2003
2
Label-free detection of DNA hybridization using carbon nanotube network field-effect transistors
A Star, E Tu, J Niemann, JCP Gabriel, CS Joiner, C Valcke
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (4), 921-926
845
2006
3
Gas sensor array based on metal-decorated carbon nanotubes
A Star, V Joshi, S Skarupo, D Thomas, JCP Gabriel
The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 110 (42), 21014-21020
667
2006
4
Flexible nanotube electronics
K Bradley, JCP Gabriel, G Grüner
Nano Letters 3 (10), 1353-1355
432
2003
5
Nanoelectronic carbon dioxide sensors
A Star, TR Han, V Joshi, JCP Gabriel, G Grüner
Advanced Materials 16 (22), 2049-2052
397
2004
6
Observation of nematic liquid-crystal textures in aqueous gels of smectite clays
JCP Gabriel, C Sanchez, P Davidson
The Journal of physical chemistry 100 (26), 11139-11143
323
1996
7
Chemistry of hexanuclear rhenium chalcohalide clusters
JCP Gabriel, K Boubekeur, S Uriel, P Batail
Chemical Reviews 101 (7), 2037-2066
298
2001
8
Swollen liquid-crystalline lamellar phase based on extended solid-like sheets
JCP Gabriel, F Camerel, BJ Lemaire, H Desvaux, P Davidson, P Batail
Nature 413 (6855), 504-508
283
2001
9
Interaction of aromatic compounds with carbon nanotubes: correlation to the Hammett parameter of the substituent and measured carbon nanotube FET response
A Star, TR Han, JCP Gabriel, K Bradley, G Grüner
Nano letters 3 (10), 1421-1423
274
2003
10
Charge transfer from ammonia physisorbed on nanotubes
K Bradley, JCP Gabriel, M Briman, A Star, G Grüner
Physical review letters 91 (21), 218301
253
2003
11
New trends in colloidal liquid crystals based on mineral moieties
JCP Gabriel, P Davidson
Advanced Materials 12 (1), 9-20
239
2000
12
Nano-electronic sensors for chemical and biological analytes, including capacitance and bio-membrane devices
K Bradley, YL Chang, JCP Gabriel, JL Passmore, S Skarupo, E Tu, …
US Patent 8,154,093
224
2012
13
Sensitivity control for nanotube sensors
K Bradley, PG Collins, JCP Gabriel, G Gruner, A Star
US Patent 6,894,359
220
2005
14
Mineral liquid crystals
P Davidson, JCP Gabriel
Current opinion in colloid & interface science 9 (6), 377-383
198
2005
15
Electrocrystallization, an invaluable tool for the construction of ordered, electroactive molecular solids
P Batail, K Boubekeur, M Fourmigue, JCP Gabriel
Chemistry of materials 10 (10), 3005-3015
180
1998
16
Short-channel effects in contact-passivated nanotube chemical sensors
K Bradley, JCP Gabriel, A Star, G Grüner
Applied Physics Letters 83 (18), 3821-3823
172
2003
17
Influence of mobile ions on nanotube based FET devices
K Bradley, J Cumings, A Star, JCP Gabriel, G Grüner
Nano Letters 3 (5), 639-641
166
2003
18
Ammonia nanosensors, and environmental control system
M Briman, C Bryant, YL Chang, JCP Gabriel, SC Gandhi, BN Johnson, …
US Patent 8,152,991
139
2012
19
The measurement by SAXS of the nematic order parameter of laponite gels
BJ Lemaire, P Panine, JCP Gabriel, P Davidson
EPL (Europhysics Letters) 59 (1), 55
118
2002
20
Modification of selectivity for sensing for nanostructure device arrays
JCP Gabriel, PG Collins, K Bradley, G Gruner
US Patent 6,905,655
110
2005
21
Quasi-Langmuir–Blodgett thin film deposition of carbon nanotubes
NP Armitage, JCP Gabriel, G Grüner
Journal of applied physics 95 (6), 3228-3230
110
2004
22
Mineral liquid crystals from self-assembly of anisotropic nanosystems
JCP Gabriel, P Davidson
Colloid Chemistry I, 119-172
110
2003
23
Hydrogen storage by physisorption: beyond carbon
SH Jhi, YK Kwon, K Bradley, JCP Gabriel
Solid state communications 129 (12), 769-773
104
2004
24
Remotely communicating, battery-powered nanostructure sensor devices
JL Passmore, JCP Gabriel, A Star, V Joshi, S Skarupo
US Patent 7,522,040
102
2009
25
Electronic sensing of chemical and biological agents using functionalized nanostructures
J Gabriel, G Gruner, P Collins, B Swanson, F Wudl
US Patent App. 10/345,783
100
2003
26
Flexible nanostructure electronic devices
NP Armitage, K Bradley, JCP Gabriel, G Grüner
US Patent 7,956,525
97
2011
Singapore-CEA Alliance for Research in Circular Economy
Projet ANR 4Water – J.-C. Gabriel