Project

• EU M.ERa.net-Project "InsBIOration"
• German Federation of Industrial Research Associations "C6C8 turn Green"
• Plastic metallization by bioinspired interface design
• Nanostructuring of surfaces
• Control and observation of chemical interface reactions
• Targeted interface characterization by FT-IR spectroscopy

Motivation

The development of new polymer interface designs for material development and research in multimaterial systems has the potential to substitute environmentally pernicious process steps in established industrial process chains. The transfer of bioinspired principles is one of the main theme of my research!

Vita

2007 was the year I started out in Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden , where I achieved my Dr. rer. nat. from the Technical University of Dresden in the topic "Development of an optical label-free ion channel sensor array".
Through my research group ‘‘ Interfacial Design and Characterization of Polymeric Materials” founded in 2014, I am immersed in educating and supporting students. Collectively with my colleagues we develop bioinspired approaches to revise and re-develop technological processes. Furthermore, I am the chair of the Scientific and Technical Council.

The interface of materials is where the concepts of physics, chemistry, materials science and process technology run into. The interface is usually only a few nanometers thick and yet decisively determines the macroscopic properties. The combination of different materials, produced in complex manufacturing processes, is a key to innovative, more environmentally friendly products and the composite or hybrid materials they require. Understanding and controlling material interfaces fascinates us! One focus of our work is to identify bio-inspired material concepts and transfer them to the synthetic world. At the same time, we challenge molecular analytics or develop new methods to build a deep understanding of interfaces and interfacial phases.