Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EUSMI (European infrastructure for spectroscopy, scattering and imaging of soft matteer)

Teaser

The main issue EUSMI addresses is the lack of integrated research infrastructure and multidisciplinary expertise in the field of soft matter. Soft matter research is essential to both fundamental understanding of the physical world and the advancement of industrial...

Summary

The main issue EUSMI addresses is the lack of integrated research infrastructure and multidisciplinary expertise in the field of soft matter. Soft matter research is essential to both fundamental understanding of the physical world and the advancement of industrial innovation. Soft matter systems compose of molecular, polymeric and colloidal components and combine structural complexity and adaptability. Research on the fundamental properties of soft matter as well as the rational design and engineering of functional soft mater materials is on the one hand key to innovation in an existing multi billion Euro market and in a rapidly developing technological field, and on the other hand requires a multidisciplinary approach, which can not be implemented on a single sited research institution due to the lack of interdisciplinary knowledge and financial resources. EUSMI aims to address this issue by providing an integrated distributed infrastructure for soft matter.

Society will benefit from EUSMI activities on two time scales: in the long term basic scientific understanding will pave the way to yet unimagined technological development while industrial innovation improves live quality almost immediately. On the scientific side, soft matter as a research theme covers across physics, chemistry, biology and medical science; one can’t deepen the understanding of one field without investigating into the others; it is a “cross-linked” knowledge network. On the industrial side, soft matter and soft-matter based consumer products are ubiquitous in daily life. Applications range from structural and packaging materials, foams, adhesives, cosmetics, food to paints, additives, lubricants and many more. Soft nanotechnology is expected to have a major impact on technological developments in the near future.

The main objective of EUSMI is to enhance European competitiveness in basic research and innovation in the field soft matter based consumer products and soft nanotechnology.

Work performed

At the beginning of the period, EUSMI was successfully branded and introduced to the broad soft matter community and potential industrial users. Corresponding advertising materials were made to increase the visibility of the platform. In the following months, the EUSMI web portal was fully operational and two interfaces were created targeting at both research scientists and industrial customers. EUSMI users are provided with the best customer experience. Through this period, three EUSMI videos were produced, which cover synthesis, microscopy and supercomputer.

These efforts, combined with the high reputation of EUSMI partners, lead to blossoming transnational access activities. Over 230 TA proposals were submitted via the web portal during the period, from which almost 70 proposed experiments were conducted and finalized. The five TA providing work packages have deliverable the usage reports in time. For the current period, which consist of 18 months and takes up 37.5% of the total running time, the TA usage of the five WPs is in proportion and progressing well.

Under the realm of joint research activities, we have greatly improved the versatility, operability, virtual access and user friendliness of our existing facilities and expanded the infrastructure by developing new techniques. The following achievements are worth mentioning:
• Two high frequency devices were constructed to enhance the rheometry capabilities within EUSMI at FORTH and ETHZ;
• The unique light scattering instruments EWDLS and TIRM at FZJ were renovated and provided with an user friendly software, through the combined effort of scientist from FZJ and engineers from LSI;
• A new state-of-art setup for oscillatory RheoSANS measurements with the high resolution chopper system has been established by JCNS at the SANS beam-line KWS-2 at the neutron source in Garching ;
• At the electron microscopy center at UA new tomography methods were developed, which enablereducing the total acquisition time for a tilt series by a factor of ten.
• Differential dynamic microscopy methods were advanced at UEDIN to an extent which eventually allows studying soft matter dynamics or turbid samples in real space.
• Large progress was achieved towards the synthesis of precisely defined polymer networks with hydrogen bonding motifs and metal/ligand complexes of different association strength.
• A data repository platform was build up, which aims to maximize openness and accessibility of research results. And the prototype for on line data analysis and interpretation toolbox was made available.

Further more, the first EUSMI networking plan was drafted. And the Initial EUSMI plan for dissemination and exploitation of results (PDR) was updated.

Final results

EUSMI has contributed to integrating European soft matter science with considerable worldwide impact by creating an overarching network of cutting edge research infrastructures. During the current reporting period, we are already seeing a budding innovative network across Europe, extending to worldwide and covering different fields and sections. The scale of interdisciplinary, international and innovation of research activities and network building is unprecedented far beyond the state of art. Moreover, EUSMI is acquiring a high reputation among scientists, an increasing demand from industries and strong interest from the general public.
Three directions are worth mentioning: building networks across scientific disciplines, connecting different research methodologies and bridging academia with industry. This will continue to have a significant synergy effect on soft matter research and so strengthen Europe’s position in a field, which in the light of developing soft nano-technology and biophysical applications, will become more and more important in the future.
The involvement of industry, both of EUSMI partners and companies external to EUSMI, in all activities will increase the level of basic understanding of soft matter properties among industrial researchers. This will enhance the options for knowledge-based rational design of materials and products and consequently result in a more effective use of resources and increased environmental sustainability.
For the next period, we expect to accomplish the deliverables in time and reach the milestones. We will aim for a more balanced TA activity profile: on the one hand, we will make the selection of proposals more competitive for groups that are in high demand; on the other hands, we will help and encourage groups that are at the moment low in demand to obtain more proposals, with the help of our strong brand, the budding network and the communication effort. Further more, we will strive towards atracting more industrial applicants.

Website & more info

More info: https://eusmi-h2020.eu/.