GRK 1524:  Self-Assembled Soft-Matter Nanostructures at Interfaces

• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry
• Term: from 2009 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 65143814

The International Research Training Group is aiming at fundamental properties of self-assembled nanostructures of soft (organic and biomolecular) matter at interfaces. Studies will be devoted to the nature of the structures formed and the driving forces behind their formation. A common objective of the research programme will be a better understanding of the interplay of the length scales characterising the substrate and the properties of the self-assembled surface structures formed at the substrate. Research will be focussed on three types of systems of different degree of complexity: (1) Systems in which the characteristic length scale results from a surface pattern imposed on an otherwise flat solid surface. Specifically, it will be investigated how “chemical” patterns ranging from nano- to micrometer dimensions can be formed through self-assembly and how they can be imprinted onto adjacent soft-matter phases.
(2) Systems with curved interfaces, in which the mean radius of curvature of the substrate represents a primary length scale. The self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules at the surface of colloidal particles into surface micelles, bilayers etc. is an example of such systems.
(3) Biomimetic structures of various length scales within interfaces. Typical issues here are, for example, the size and stability of domains formed in multi-component biomembranes or field-induced pattern formation of colloidal particles at interfaces.
The studies will be performed by a group of physical chemists and physicists with expertise in experimental and theoretical soft-matter and interface research. A strong collaboration between theory/molecular simulation and experiment in the research programme, which is a key for progress in this field, has been successfully implemented between the German applicants for several years. On the US side a group of researchers with complementary scientific interests and methods has been gathered. Research activities of the Research Training Group will be accompanied by an integrated study programme organised in a modular fashion. It involves modules from theory and experiment that students select based upon advice by their supervisors in order to broaden their expertise beyond their immediate field of research. PhD theses will be jointly supervised by a German and a US scientist.

• DFG Programme: International Research Training Groups
• International Connection: USA
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Berlin
• IRTG-Partner Institution: Duke University; North Carolina State University Raleigh; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Pennsylvania
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung; Wissenschaftspark Potsdam-Golm
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Martin Schoen
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Max L. Berkowitz; Professor Patrick Charbonneau; Professor Dr. Ashutosh Chilkoti; Professor Dr. Michael David Dickey; Professor Dennis E. Discher; Professor Dr. Stefan Franzen; Professor Dr. Jan Genzer; Professorin Hanna S. Gracz; Professorin Dr. Carol Hall; Professor Gabriel P. Lopez; Professorin Melissa A. Pasquinelli; Professor Dr. Richard J. Spontak; Professor Dr. Orlin D. Velev; Professor Stefan Zauscher
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Matthias Ballauff; Privatdozentin Dr. Rumiana Dimova; Professor Dr. Michael Gradzielski; Dr. Andrea Grafmüller; Professor Dr. Peter Hildebrandt; Professorin Dr. Sabine Klapp; Professorin Dr. Regine von Klitzing; Professor Dr. Reinhard Lipowsky; Professor Dr. Jürgen P. Rabe; Privatdozent Dr. Hans Riegler; Professor Dr. Holger Stark; Dr. Thomas Weikl
• IRTG-Partner: Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Keith E. Gubbins