Research Groups
We investigate engineering approaches for the fabrication of artificial complex materials that combine some of the exquisite structural features found in natural biological materials like bone, seashells and trees with the wealth of chemical compositions available for the manufacture of synthetic materials.
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We focus on designing and controlling disorder in single crystals. We grow crystals with targeted disordered structures, analyze them using synchrotron radiation, and model them in-silico using Monte Carlo simulations.
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Our group investigates magnetic phenomena in thin films and nanometer-sized systems with tailored structural and electronic properties. In particular, we are interested in the question of how the microscopic interplay of structure, bonding, and interface effects determines the magnetic and electrical properties of metal multilayers and hybrid metal-organic heterostructures, from the bulk limit down to single molecules and single atoms on surfaces.
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Research in the Materials Theory group uses a combination of first-principles and phenomenological theoretical techniques to study the fundamental physics of novel materials that have potential technological importance.
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Our research is directed towards novel magnetic thin film and nanoscale systems, which we investigate with the large scale facilities at PSI.
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The Laboratory of Metal Physics and Technology (LMPT) carries out research and teaching in areas ranging from basic science to technology, mostly in metals-related fields.
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In our group we investigate materials where strong coupling between electrons leads to novel types of ordering processes of its spins and charges. Our scope is to study the fundamental physics of these materials with an interest in basic research as well as in their technological potential.
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The focus of our research is directed towards the development of wet-chemistry routes to functional inorganic and organic-inorganic materials covering all length scales from the nm to the cm range. Based on a modular approach, we first synthesize different types of particles with control over crystallinity, size, shape and surface properties.
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The Laboratory for Nanometallurgy carries out research in the field of thin films, in which at least one critical dimension is in the nanometer regime and significantly influences the behavior of materials. These dimensions can be external as well as all coating applications or reflect some important internal length scale like the grain size or the precipitate spacing in alloys.
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Our group develops new methodologies to synthesize smart polymers and polymeric nanomaterials. Key to our strategy is to control all properties of polymeric materials including the molecular weight, dispersity, architecture and functionality as well as their self-assembly into nanostructures with various size, shape, surface and core properties.
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The Robotic Materials group takes a bottom-up approach to robotics and develop materials that would enable unusual form and unconventional functions for broader robotic possibilities. The group creates soft materials with embedded physical intelligence for actuation, sensing and control functions and blur the line between autonomous materials and robotic systems.
The Soft Materials group investigates the fundamentals and engineering challenges with soft materials. The latter embrace a wide variety of materials, ranging from colloids to polymers and surface-active materials such as phospholipids.
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We investigate the behavior of micro and nanoparticles, or colloids, under confinement at the interface between two fluids (e.g. air-water or oil-water).
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Former Research Groups and Emeriti
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- Crystallography, Prof. Walter Steurer
- Electrochemical Materials, external pageProf. Jennifer L.M. Rupp
- Nanoscale Simulations, Dr. Joost VandeVondele
- Nonmetallic Inorganic Materials, Prof. Ludwig Gauckler
- Polymer Chemistry, Prof. Dieter Schlüter
- Polymer Materials, Prof. Ulrich W. Suter
- Polymer Physics, Prof. Hans Christian Öttinger
- Polymer Technology, Prof. Paul Smith
- Soft and Living Materials, Prof. Eric Dufresne
- Surface Science and Technology, Prof. Nicholas D. Spencer