Exploration of surfactants

The Konstanz-based chemist Professor Dr. Sebastian Polarz has obtained an ERC Consolidator Grant for his research project to investigate a new class of surfactant systems. The European Research Council (ERC) supports the scientist from Konstanz with 1.9 million euros in total to advance his pioneering work in the field of inorganic surfactants over the next five years. ERC Consolidator Grants are designed to support excellent researchers, with over 7 and up to 12 years of experience since completion of PhD (or equivalent degree), at the stage at which they are consolidating their own independent research team. In a highly competitive procedure Sebastian Polarz succeeded in a field of over 3,700 other applicants.

The project investigating the new class of surfactants, titled 'Inorganic surfactants with multifunctional heads (I-SURF)', will start on 01 March 2014. The I-SURF project aims at producing inorganic surfactants with a significantly extended range of properties. In this process the organic headgroup of the surfactant is exchanged for an inorganic unit and is thus equipped with, for example, catalytic, special electronic or magnetic properties. The example of magnetic surfactants gives us an idea of how the additional long-range interactions, that do not exist in such a form in conventional surfactants, lead to the creation of new and, if applicable, emergent properties that can be managed externally, such as through applying external magnetic fields.

We can expect that the results will not only contribute to basic research, but may also be used for future material-sciences technologies. Sebastian Polarz will use the inorganic surfactants to create, for example, self-organising smart materials. Smart materials, also called "intelligent materials", can react in different ways, depending on the external conditions.

Provided by University of Konstanz