Impact Print
The main impact will be in development and dissemination of novel techniques for electromagnetic characterization of nanostructured materials and preparation of standards in the field of nanomaterials characterisation. This will complement the known techniques for characterization in terms of particle and reactivity by developing unified approaches to characterization in terms of permittivity, permeability, chirality parameter, surface impedance, grid impedance and similar. These parameters will be able to characterize not only bulk materials, but also thin layers and interface behaviour. Take up of these new methods for electromagnetic characterization will have dramatic impact on nanotechnologies for applications especially in telecommunications, imaging, detection, and in sensors.

As the main result of this project, a European centre/facility for electromagnetic characterization of nanostructured composite materials should be established, which would offer well-established, tested, and widely disseminated measurement techniques and methodologies for consistent interpretation of measured results and evaluation of the standardised parameters of nanostructured materials. VI members and beneficiaries of this consortium will also work on mechanisms for sharing measurement facilities and providing quality metrology services for the industries and SMEs. Already existing facility sharing agreement within the VI will be used as the basis for this work. The users of the facility, which will be research institutes, industries, and especially SMEs, will benefit from this harmonised top-class research and measurement facility, which will provide services based on new, internationally developed and widely accepted characterization approaches. At the final stage of the project, this facility will be ready to take a leading role in the work on standardization of developed and implemented characterization techniques.

The expected impact will be adoption of common measurement tools for the electromagnetic characterization of nanostructured materials. Such unified measurement methods and tools will be very important for the European industry as this will allow them to use standard characterization procedures for applications that involve nanostructured materials. This project will bring a new level of cohesiveness to the field of electromagnetic characterization of nanostructured materials. Coordination of experimental measurement techniques and standards used for characterization of nanostructured materials will result in reliable and reproducible material development efforts which are essential for future applications of nanostructured artificial electromagnetic materials. The benefits for industry and particularly SMEs will include access to equipment and expertise that would ordinarily be too expensive in term of time and cost. The major impact is envisaged in the development of the standardised electromagnetic metrology and unified specifications for nanostructured materials which could be adopted across diverse industrial sectors ranging from the material manufacturers to the device designers.

The impact will be achieved through the following steps:
1. Bringing together a wide range of expertise, experience and viewpoints;
2. Building a unified European organizational structure to organize common work towards the project objectives;
3. Coordination of development of physically and technically sound approaches to definition, measurements, and extraction of electromagnetic parameters of nanostructured materials;
4. Dissemination of unified and tested measurement techniques, education of the users;
5. Promoting the excellence of European researchers and encouraging the adoption of new advanced techniques to impact entrepreneurial activities (start-ups and SMEs).

The objective to consolidate efforts and bring coordination in the European work towards development, testing, and dissemination of methods and tools for electromagnetic characterisation and metrology obviously requires European approach; furthermore, interactions with global players will be critical for the success of the project. On the other hand, the Virtual Institute will constantly monitor national and other international activities in this area and establish cooperation with potential new players in this area.