Team

National Research Programme Leader: Nanostructured materials

Co-Director of the International Associated Laboratory CNRS-JSI

• Development and implementation of advanced TEM techniques for materials research including in-situ TEM in liquid environments
• Focus on nanomaterials and interfaces at the atomic scale
• Magnetic materials and complex metallic alloys

• Biomaterials
• W-based composites for fusion applications
• Additive manufacturing of bioceramics
• Electron microscopy (SEM, TEM, in-situ nanomechanical characterization)

• Photocatalysis
• Electrocatalysis
• High entropy materials
• Pollutants degradation
• Electrolysis

• Dental materials
• Prosthodontics
• Metal-ceramic bond
• Additive manufacturing

• Magnetic nanostructures for tomorrow’s technology
• Photocatalyst for clean energy
• Tribology of DLC coatings and green lubricants
• 3D printing of permanent magnets

• High temperature reactions
• Microstructure development and functional properties
• Semiconducting ZnO-based ceramics
• Varistors
• Oxide thermoelectric materials and devices
• Thick film technology

• Additive manufacturing
• Radiation-assisted rapid sintering
• Ceramic multimaterials

Master of management

• Administration and support
• Organisation of events
• Photography

• Crystal growth from solution (ZnO, TiO₂)
• Photocatalytic degradation of microplastic

• Catalytic materials for environmental and energy applications
• 1D and 2D oxide nanostructures
• Electron microscopy SEM and TEM techniques

• Degradation of organic pollutants in (waste) water
• Photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis
• High-entropy alloys, high-entropy oxides
• Anodic oxidation

• Dry and wet materials processing
• Metallographic sample preparation
• Dilatometry
• Porosimetry
• Materials’ mechanical properties evaluation

• Financial project management
• Department financial management

• Mineralogy and crystallography of geological systems and ceramic materials
• Analysis with scanning electron microscopy (SEM, SEM/FIB)

• Additive manufacturing of metals and ceramics
• Materials for fusion applications
• Fibre reinforced composites
• W-based materials

• Ferrite-based magnets
• W-based materials for fusion applications
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Spark plasma sintering (SPS)
• Promotioin of science https://znc.si

• Fusion materials
• Metal matrix composites
• Additive manufacturing
• Liquid metal infiltration

CTO of JSI’s spin-out company Genuine Technologies d.o.o.

• Engineering and bioceramics
• Colloidal processing
• Additive manufacturing
• Rapid sintering
• Mechanical properties

• Ab-initio electronic structure calculations, based on the density functional theory, focused on magnetic properties of solids, namely hyperfine parameters, nonlinear magnetoelastic effects, X-ray magnetic dichroism (XMCD) spectra…

• Erythrocyte-based nanocarriers for cancer therapy and imaging
• Nucleic acid delivery for gene silencing therapy
• Drug delivery systems made of natural polymers and thermo-responsive liposomes
• Magnetic (FePt, Fe3O4) and plasmonic nanostructures (Au) for magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic hyperthermia and photo-thermal therapy

• Hard magnetic materials
• Magnet recycling
• Advanced rapid sintering techniques
• Magnetic measurements

• Material synthesis
• Nd-Fe-B magnets
• Processing of magnets
• Powder metallurgy
• Spark plasma sintering (SPS)
• Recycling of permanent magnets

• Processing of ceramic materials
• Additive manufacturing
• Technician

• Photocatalytic degradation and characterization of microplastics
• Crystal growth from solution (ZnO, TiO₂)
• Development of transparent and conductive ZnO films
• Microstructural development of ceramic materials
• Electron microscopy (SEM, FIB-SEM)

• Additive manufacturing (material extrusion)
• Hard magnetic materials (Nd-Fe-B, Sm-Co, Sm-Fe-N)
• Recycling of EoL RE magnets
• Magnetic measurements (vibrating sample magnetometer, permagraph)
• New material development (mechanical alloying, arc melting, melt spinning)

• Cantor entropy-stabilized alloys/oxides
• Electrochemical water-splitting reactions

• Photocatalytic degradation and characterization of microplastics
• Electron microscopy (SEM, FIB-SEM, TEM)
• Sample preparation for transmission electron microscope (TEM)
• Hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO and TiO₂
• Solid-state synthesis of ceramic materials

Advanced TEM characterization and method developments:

• Quantitative atomic resolution imaging: high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)
• Spectroscopic analysis: electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS)
• In-situ heating TEM experiments

• Hard magnetic materials – recycling and reprocessing
• Powder metallurgy
• Electrochemical processing
• Spark plasma sintering (SPS)
• Magnetic properties

• Mineralogy
• Electron microscopy of chemically induced twin boundaries in metal–oxides at atomic–scale
• Oriented self-assembly of nanocrystals
• Mineral-water interactions
• Twinning
• Topotaxial replacement reactions and related crystal growth mechanisms

• Density functional theory calculations focused on solving local structures of metal-oxide materials
• Microscopic and theoretical investigations of interfaces, planar and point defects at the atomic scale

Magnetic interfaces – theoretical study:

• Density-functional-theory-based simulations
• Models of grain boundaries in hard magnetic materials
• Influence of secondary phases on magnetic and structural properties
• AI-driven search for ideal interface

• Hard magnetic materials
• Rare-earths-transition-metals (RE-TM) bonded and sintered magnets
• Effect of processing on microstructure and physical properties of magnets
• Application of RE-TM magnets
• Technology transfer to big scale production

• Materials characterization
• Electron-probe microanalysis (EPMA: EDXS, WDXS); advanced quantitative methods
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Electron backscatter difracition (EBSD)
• Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
• Investigation of incorporation and solubility of dopants in complex perovskite ferroelectrics
• Thin film analysis: nanoparticles; quasicrystals; phase identification; complex metallic alloys

• Advanced electron microscopy techniques: TEM, HRTEM, HAADF/ABF STEM image analysis, EDS and EELS analysis
• In-situ TEM: heating and electrochemical liquid state TEM
• Studying the chemistry-structure-property relationship in materials
• Electrochemical systems and lithium ion batteries
• Cement and cementitious materials

Permanent magnets – design and processing:

• Powder metallurgy
• Nanostructured permanent magnetic materials
• Grain boundary engineering
• Advanced rapid sintering techniques

• Overview of the Permanent magnet laboratory
• Permanent magnet processing
• Melt spinning
• Mechanical operations
• Thermal treatments
• Magnetic measurements

• Electrochemical sensors and biosensors
• Detection of toxic organic materials
• Detection of biomolecules
• High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

• Liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy
• Electrochemical nucleation and growth of the metallic particles

• Magnetic skyrmions
• 4D Scanning transmission electron microscopy
• Computational transmission electron microscopy
• Ab-initio material modelling

• Departmental administration office

• Cell membrane-based carriers as biomimetic drug delivery systems
• Active targeting of cancer cells using neuropeptides

• Hard magnetic materials
• Magnet recycling
• Advanced rapid sintering techniques
• Magnetic measurements
• Optical and electron microscopy

• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Hard magnetic materials
• Sintering
• Hydrothermal synthesis

• Electrochemical sensors for toxic organic substances in environment

• Ceramic processing
• Additive manufacturing
• Heterogeneous catalysis

• Electrochemical sensors for detection of toxic organic compounds
• Electrophoretic deposition and anodization
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
• Conventional and analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

• Development of permanent magnets
• Recycling and reprocessing strategies for permanent magnets
• Critical raw materials sustainability and circularity
• Electrochemical considerations in advanced material processing
• Advanced characterization via atomic and magnetic force microscopy