Zoom: https://ethz.zoom.us/j/66758737383
Magnetoelectric teleportation
Manfred Fiebig (Multifunctional Ferroic Materials – D-MATL)
Teleportation, the transfer of matter or energy between points in space without traversing the physical distance between them, is a common subject in science fiction. Aside from the fascination in propagation-less transfer of matter or energy, teleportation allows authors or filmmakers to dispose of the description of lengthy journeys or save the costs of depicting these. Teleportation has been realized in the quantum world, where it denotes the immediate transfer of the quantum state of an atom or photon through quantum-mechanical entanglement. In this expanded definition, it is a form of communication rather than spatial transformation, and restricted to atomic dimensions. In the macroscopic world, teleportation is believed to be nonexistent, however. Here I demonstrate that nevertheless, compounds with simultaneous magnetic and electric order, so-called multiferroics, permit a special form of teleportation.
Innovating Medical Materials
Inge K. Herrman (Nanoparticle Systems Engineering Laboratory – D-MAVT)
The well-controlled synthesis of nanoscale materials is arguably one of the most important achievements of material science in the past decades. With the push to simplify biomedical material designs, inorganic nanomaterials have regained interest. Especially metal and metal oxide nanomaterials have attracted significant attention due to the scalability and robustness of their synthesis and their tailorable composition and architecture. In the first part, I will present an approach to unite tissue adhesion, based on nano-bridging, with bioactivity for wound healing applications. Uniting these properties requires control over nanoparticle architecture and freedom of choice in materials. Liquid-feed flame spray pyrolysis (LF-FSP) fulfills these requirements, while offering scalable and sterile synthesis. By utilizing the versatility of LF-FSP, we have united the wound closure properties of bioglass with the anti-inflammatory properties of ceria in one nanoparticle hybrid system. By tailoring the architecture of the hybrid nanoparticles, temporal control of the material bioactivities can be achieved in order to optimally address the different phases of the wound healing cascade. In the second part of my presentation, I will briefly introduce a new adhesion concept based on mutually interpenetrating networks as a new route to high performance tissue adhesion under most demanding conditions, such as the ones encountered in the gastrointestinal tract.