Functional & responsive coatings

Context : Thin films that exhibit some useful property - i.e., a "function" - are very important in technology, since all materials interact with their surroundings by way of their surfaces. Therefore, by coating a material with a thin functional film, new properties can easily be given to the material. The challenges here are to succeed making a stable film that will resist to sometimes harsh external conditions, and which exhibits a desirable property. Even more interesting is when this property is exhibited when needed. This corresponds to responsive systems.

Our contribution : We are working developing a wide range of new functional and/or responsive organic thin films, using a range of fabrication methodologies such as layer-by-layer assembly (including spray coating), controlled polymerization from surfaces (surface-initiated ATRP), and a range of surface grafting techniques sometimes referred to as self-assembled monolayers.

Currently, the functional properties we are studying are superhydrophobicity, biological activity (including sensing and bactericidal and enzymatic properties), ferroelectricity for data storage, catalytic activity, and temperature-, pH-, electric field-, or light-responsiveness.

Collaborations are with the partners of the interUniversity Attraction Pole on Functional Supramolecular Systems, with Wilhelm Huck (U. Cambridge, now U. Nijmegen), with Christophe Detrembleur (U. Liège), with Jean-Pol Vigneron (U. Namur), with the partners of the EU MOMA project, and, within UCLouvain, with Bernard Nysten, Olivier Riant, and Karine Glinel.