Photonics from Active Matter

The target of the project is to establish new innovative routes for design and control of environmentally friendly nanostructured films, coatings or surfaces. These new materials will have advanced structural coloration and reflection properties in the ultra-violet (UV), visible (VIS) and infra-red (IR) range. The project will transfer basic scientific academic expertise in the area of cooperative active matter phenomena into applied materials technology for mass production of UV/ VIS/IR photonic structures. The state-of-the-art within the area of photonic films/surfaces relies upon newly acquired knowledge of biomimetic structures. In parallel with this, the state-of-the-art within the emerging area of active matter relies upon newly acquired knowledge linking flocking behavior among animals such as birds or fish, ants, or bacteria. These two very active academic areas of (i) biomimetic photonic functional materials, and (ii) biomimetic dynamics of active cooperative matter, each presently represent separate cutting-edge activities in the area of soft materials science. The foundational character of PhAct is in the synergy of these two scientific academic directions for a new environmentally friendly photonic surface structuring technology from advanced materials assembly with a chosen focus on natural base materials such as cellulose or clays. Consortium: P1 (NTNU) - Norwegian University of Science and Technology - NO; P2 (GiaMag)- GiaMag Technologies - NO; P3 (IFE) - Institute for Energy Technology - NO; P4 (UOXF) - Oxford University -UK; P5 (UCAM) - University of Cambridge - UK; P6 (NOVA_ID) - New University of Lisboa - PT; P7 (Chalmers) - Chalmers University of Technology - SE; P8 (Fluicell) - Fluicell AB - SE; P8 (Uppsala) - Uppsala University - SE; P10 (UniZG) - University of Zagreb - HR; P11 (RBI) - Ruder Bodkovic Institute - HR.