Surface Science for Future Materials
Investigating (geo)chemical, corrosion and wear interactions of the surface to bulk level using surface analysis and advanced method of testing
The Surface Science for Future Materials (acronym Surfaces) group is Interface Chemistry and Surface Engineering departmental group and works closely between departments of Interface Chemistry and Surface Engineering and Microstructure Physics and Alloy Design within the institute, which means it works cross-disciplinary and collaborate with internal and external collaborators (national and international).
The main goal of the group is to understand complex surface-bulk material interactions in an in-depth manner from different perspectives. The focus of the group is understanding the mechanism(s) between the surface and underlying bulk material (e.g. interfaces, corrosion, geochemistry, wear, tribocorrosion, magnetism etc.).
Metallic material properties, processing and environmental issues require a good understanding in order to improve material performance and reduce environmental impact (lower greenhouse gas emissions, waste and unwanted by-products). Especially metals (ferrous and non-ferrous alloys) used in a high demanding environment, where their properties dictate their applicability in various fields, such as energy sector, transport sector, medicine, tool industry etc.
Group Surface Science for Future Materials carries out research by combining novel processing techniques (e.g. cryogenics), and state-of-art surface, chemical, magnetic and tribological experimental methodologies (e.g. AFM (SKPFM/MFM), SKP, XPS, EBSD, EDX, (S)TEM, APT, MOKE, VSM, wear testing and advanced characterisation (synchrotron and neutron level)) in order to:
- fundamentally understand surface and interface processes
- (geo)chemical analysis of raw materials and metallic materials
- corrosion, chemistry, and surface science form the metallurgist´s perspective: how can the microstructure and composition of the material be optimised for corrosion performance and other properties such as wear, friction, etc, improving materials (raw or recycled material) properties and processing of them in an environmentally-friendly and sustainable ways that also deliver lower production and maintenance costs
- support development and application of (deep) cryogenic treatment for science, energy and industry
National and international collaborators:
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
- University of Kiel, Germany
- Synchrotron Elettra, Italy
- Budapest Neutron Centre, Hungary
- Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland
- Nanocenter, Slovenia
- Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia
- National Instiute of Chemistry, Slovenia
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Australia
- University of Sydney, Australia
- kiutra, Germany
Projects:
02/2023-present Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship : Cryogenic Processing of Metallic Materials used for Energy Sector
Videos about Energy Sector and Cryogenic Treatment