Activities

Activities 2024

19-20 November

FunMat-II conference in Stockholm, hosted by Sandvik Coromant.

New PhD in FunMat-II

On 24 October, Clara Linder successfully defended her thesis Tailoring multicomponent thin films for combined corrosion resistance and oxygen electrocatalysis. Prof. Dr. Sannakaisa Virtanen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, was the opponent.

Group photo of participants at Clara Linder's doctoral defence.

High school teachers from Oskarshamn, Fagersta and Sandviken visiting LiU

40 teachers in physics, chemistry, and technology visited LiU on 28th October. The theme for the education was programming, and the teachers listened to a lecture in modelling in materials science, visited National Supercomputer Center, and performed a laboratory exercise using Python.

Licentate presentation

Sanath Kumar Honnali successfully presented his licentiate thesis Energy-efficient physical vapor deposition of transition metal nitride thin films on 30 August. Dr. Tomas Kubart, Uppsala University was the opponent.

group photo of Sanath with his opponent and supervisors

Anodization can be used to tailor the catalytic performance of thin films

CoCrFeNi thin films, synthesized by high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), can be used as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts that are corrosion resistant in alkaline conditions. The film microstructure is tuned by ion acceleration (substrate bias) during deposition and the film’s surfaces are oxidized electrochemically by anodization. As-deposited, the films are active OER catalysts and anodization activates the films towards ORR. Read the full study here.

FunMat-II represented at PSE2024

Nikolaos Giochalas presented a poster at the Plasma Surface Engineering conference, Erfurt, Germany. The poster was about an investigation of the Cathodic arc Titanium-Nitrogen plasma using diagnostics and simulations, featuring ion energy measurements at different distances from the source with a mass-energy analyser, as well as fluid simulations of the expanded plasma from the source.

Nikolaos in front of his conference poster.

Prospective students visiting LiU

60 pupils from Oscarsgymnasiet made a study visit to LiU on 29th August to try out university life. They listened to a lecture on electrical circuits, performed a laboratory exercise, and got a guided tour at the campus.

Completed master thesis

Axel Pettersson has successfully presented his master’s thesis Deposition and characterisation of TiVN-thin films. Axel will continue to work in the Nanostructure materials division during the summer on design, manufacture, and installation of components to an arc deposition system.

Congratulations Dr Florian Bock!

On 19th April, Florian Bock, LiU, successfully defended his PhD thesis Combining ab-initio and machine learning techniques for theoretical simulations of hard nitrides at extreme conditions. Dr. Martin Friák, Czech Academy of Sciences was the opponent.

researchers, men and women, stand in two rows and smile to the camera

Finding the next generation of engineers

The 22nd March was the yearly Introduce a Girl to Engineering (IGE) day. RISE, Swerim, and LiU arranged a day in Kista where 14 high school students got to know more about engineering and materials science.

girls listening to a researcher in a lab

Students to Open House

On 8th March, 60 students in science and technology from Oscarsgymnasiet, Oskarhamn, visited Open House at Linköping University to learn more about university studies. We arranged a lunch where the high school students got to meet and listen to university students writing their master’s theses and students being active in student societies.

Past activities and events 2023

Public defences of student licentiate and doctoral theses

Dissertation
Xiao Li, Linköping University, successfully defended thesis Toward Energy-efficient Physical Vapor Deposition: Routes for Replacing Substrate Heating during Magnetron Sputtering by Employing Metal Ion Irradiation, on 1 September at 9:15. The opponent was Professor Jyh-Wei Lee from Ming Chi University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.

Dissertation
Smita Gangaprasad Rao, Linköping University, succesfully defended her thesis Cantor-Alloy-Based Multicomponent Nitride Thin Films on 15th March at 9:15. The opponent was Yutao Pei from University of Groningen, Netherlands.

Dissertation
Tun-Wei Hsu, Linköping University, succesfully defended his thesis Effect of metal ion irradiation on hard coating synthesis by physical vapor deposition on March 14th at 9.15. The opponent was apl. Prof. Dr. Sven Ulrich from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Dissertation
Janella Salamania, Linköping University, succesfully defended her thesis Defects in titanium aluminum nitride-based thin films on March 3rd at 9.15 in C3. The opponent was Prof. Zoe Barber, Cambridge.

Dissertation
Zhixing Wu, Linköping University, succesfully defended his thesis Mesoporous transition metal oxides for oxygen electrocatalysis in energy conversion technologies on February 23rd at 9.15 in Planck. The opponent was Prof. Freddy Kleitz, University of Vienna.

Dissertation
Leon Zendejas Medina, Uppsala University, succesfully defended his thesis Designing multicomponent alloy coatings for corrosion protection on February 3rd at 9.15. The opponent was Prof. Zoe Barber, Cambridge.

Dissertation
On 10 January, Maiara Moreno successfully defended her thesis Wear behavior of Ti1-xAlxN-based coatings during turning. The opponent was Jose L. Endrino, Universidad Loyola/Cranfield University.

School collaboration

Career day
On 28 Nov, the yearly career day was held at Oscarsgymnasiet, this year with the theme: Everything a future student should know. More than 100 students from year 2 and 3 at the science and technology programs listened to presentations about career paths and university studies and mingled with companies from the region.

high school students visiting FUnMat-II's exhibition

Education for high school teachers
High school teachers in physics and technology at Oscarsgymnasiet visited LiU for a day with focus on interference and coherence of light, camouflage, and how bugs inspire coatings that can polarize light.

the collage shows different parts of the teacher training in labs

Study visit
~60 high school students in the second year at the science and technology programs from Oscarsgymnasiet had a study visit at LiU. They listened to a lecture on electrical circuits, had a lab, and got a guided tour by engineering students.

IGE Day

We arranged an Introduce a Girl to Engineering day at RISE, Kista. Girls in the age 13-19 got to know more about engineering, research, and materials science.

Open house at LiU
~60 students from Oscarsgymnasiet, Oskarshamn, visited Linköping University to learn more about higher studies.

Seminars and conferences

Seminar
Seminar on Latest advances in plasma diagnostics and characterization was given on 30 November 2023.

Yearly FunMat-II conference
The yearly FunMat-II conference was held 7-8 November at Westinghouse, Västerås.

Seminar
Seminar on Spectroscopy and surface analysis of coatings was given 30 May 2023.

Past activities and events 2022

Public defences of student, licentiate and doctoral theses

Dissertation
On 16 June Binbin Xin successfully defended his PhD thesis Flexible Inorganic and Hybrid Thermoelectric Thin Films Based on Layered Calcium Cobaltate. Assoc. Prof. Jiri Houska, University of West Bohemia, will was the opponent.

Dissertation
On 31 May Rui Shu (LiU) successfully defended his PhD thesis Refractory High-entropy Alloy and Nitride Thin Films. Opponent was Prof. Alfred Ludwig, Ruhr-Universität-Bochhum.

Licentiate seminar
On 3 March at Clara Linder (RISE) presented her licentiate thesis Catalytically active and corrosion resistant cobalt-based thin films. Opponent was Prof. Anna Martinelli, Chalmers.

School collaboration

IGE day

Karriärdagen 2022

Seminars and conferences

Yearly FunMat-II conference
The yearly FunMat-II conference was held 15-16 November at SECO Tools, Fagersta.

Seminar
A webinar on Latest advances in characterization and modelling of high temperature properties in coating materials was given over Teams on 9 June.

Past activities and events 2021

Public defences of student, licentiate and doctoral theses

Master thesis presentation

On 17 May, Florian Bock successfully defended his master thesis Active learning of interatomic potentials to investigate thermodynamic and elastic properties of Ti0.5Al0.5N at elevated temperature.

Licentiate defence
On 22 April, Smita G. Rao defended her licentiate thesis Multicomponent CrFeCo:N-based thin films at 10:15. Opponent was prof. Denis Music, Malmö University.

Licentiate presentation
On 21 April, León Zendejas Medina succesfully defended his licentiate thesis Sputtered high entropy alloy coatings and the effects of carbon addition at 15:15. Opponent was prof. Peter Leisner, Jönköping University.

Diploma work presentation
On 10 March, Grzegorz Sadowski defended his masters thesis Multicomponent TiNbCrAl nitride films produced by DCMS and HiPIMS.

Diploma work presentation
On 5 March, Jakob Steneteg defended his master thesis Corrosion resistant multicomponent coatings for hydrogen fuel cells.

Diploma work presentation
Asker Jarlöv presented his masters thesis Corrosion studies on multicomponent TiZrNbTa thin films. The work was a collaboration between Uppsala University, Linköpng University and Impact Coatings.

School collaborations

Karriärdagen
The yearly career day for Oscarsgymnasiet was held at 22 October. 5 speakers from industry and Linköping University talked about career paths to answer the question “How did I end up here?”

Seminars and conferences

Seminar
A webinar on Analytical microscopy and spectroscopy for characterization of coatings was held on Teams at 24 November. Approximately 60 participants listened to presentations from national and international speakers. Thank you all for participating, and a special thank you to all the speakers.

Conference
The yearly FunMat-II conference was held online on 9 – 10 Nov.

Seminar
A seminar on AI and machine learning for materials design was held on 3 June. Guest speakers on the event were Claudia Draxl (Humboldt University of Berlin), Alexander Shapeev (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology), and Anna Dehlin (KTH Royal Institute of Technology). The seminar was broadcasted over Teams and had more than 100 attendants. Our seminars are open also for non-FunMat-II members.

Past activities and events 2020

Public defences of student, licentiate and doctoral theses

Dissertation
On 4 December, Johan Tidholm successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled Lattice dynamics: From fundamental research to practical applications.

Thesis defence
On 16 November, Asker Jarlöv presented his Maters thesis Corrosion studies on multicomponent TiZrNbTa thin films at Uppsala University.

Licentiate defence
On 11 November, MSc Rui Shu defended his licentiate thesis Nonstoichiometric Multicomponent Nitride Thin Films at Linköping University. The defence was broadcasted on Zoom.

School collaboration

Career day
5 November was a digital Career day held at Oscarsgymnasiet. Second year high school pupils learned about what an engineer does. Industrial participation from Saft, Scania and KSU. Organizers are Linköping University, NOVA, and Oscarsgymnasiet.

Seminars and conferences

Seminar
A seminar with the topic Characterization of materials for batteries and fuel cells was given over Zoom, at 10 December 2020. ~90 attendants from industry and academy listened to our national and international speakers.

Seminar
A seminar with the topic Spectroscopic methods and synchrotron XRD for materials characterization was given at RISE, Stockholm, at 5 March 2020. More than 30 attendants from industry and academy listened to our national and international speakers. A special thank you to our invited speakers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and Max IV.

Docentship

Docentship
On 10 March 2020, Dr. Emma Björk gave a presentation entitled Mesoporous materials for catalysis and drug delivery to obtain her docentship.

Past activities and events 2019

Public defences of student, licentiate and doctoral theses

Dissertation
On 11 December, Muhammad Bilal Syed, succesfully defended his PhD thesis Cathodic arc deposition process.

School collaboration

High school project
Hans Haraldsson from Oscargsgymnasiet did his high school project in collaboration with Linköping University. He investigated how mesoporous silica can be used as catalysts for bio fuel production.

Carreer day
We arranged a career day for Oscarsgymnasiet in Oskarshamn on 13 November. Nine companies from the municipality of Oskarshamn and Linköping University met students in secondary highschool to talk about work opportunities after higher education.

Engaged in Karriärdagen 2018Monica Westman

Seminars and conferences

Seminar
A seminar with the topic Characterization and modelling of materials defects was given at Linköping University at 19 September. More than 30 attendants from industry and academy listened to our national and international speakers and had a laboratory visit of the Ångström building (TEM) alternatively National Supercomputer Centre (NSC).

Seminar
A seminar with the topic Materials and coatings for fuel cells and batteries was given at RISE, Stockholm, on 27 March. More than 30 attendants from industry and academy listened to our national and international speakers.

Docentship

On 14 November 2019, Dr. Lina Rogström gave a presentation on the topic Material behavior of wear-resistant coatings during metal cutting to obtain her docentship.

Past activities and events 2018

Seminars and conferences

Seminar
A seminar with the topic Latest advances in characterization techniques for coating processes was given at Linköping University at 26 November. More than 30 attendants from industry and academy listened to our national and international speakers and got a guided tour at LiU’s facilities.

Seminar
A seminar on Characterization of mechanical properties of surfaces and coatings was given at Swerea KIMAB, Kista at 22 May. We had more than 30 attendants from both industry and academia who listened to national and international speakers.