Minatran ERC

"My reseach interest is to understand the behaviour of materials at the nanoscale. Why the nanoscale? Because material properties at such small scales differ drastically from the macro- or even micron- scales. The protagonist of this area is carbon, with graphite being of the softest materials, while carbon nanotubes on the other hand are the stiffest materials known. Once the basic properties (such as mechanics, electronics) of nanomaterials are understood, a variety of applications will follow, ranging from aerospace and electronics, to medicine. The various nanostructures we are currently considering are next-generation anodes for Li anodes, electromigration in integrated circuits, mechanical properties of nanowires/quantum dots, as well properties of cells."

Katerina Aifantis

Silicon nanocones - fabricated at IESL/FORTH by Dr. Stratakis

The title of this ERC grant is "Probing the Micro-Nano Transition: Theoretical and Experimental Foundations, Simulations and Applications". The purpose is to understand material behaviour at the micro- and nanoscales and try to identify the lengthscale at which the micro to nano scale transition occurs.

Motivation for this work stems from the fact that deformation mechanisms differ at the micro- and nanoscales. These differences are attributed to interfaces, continues

AFM measurments - by Dr. Aifantis