The research group, led by dr. hab. Mikołaj Lewandowski, prof. UAM, from the NanoBioMedical Centre at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, was the first to observe the occurrence of Ostwald ripening in a system consisting of oxide islands on a metallic substrate. The results of the research, which was co-funded by the European Funds from the Intelligent Development programme under the FIRST TEAM FNP programme, were published in the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces.
Ostwald ripening is a physico-chemical phenomenon involving the attachment of smaller particles to larger ones through evaporation and condensation. It is related to the fact that larger particles are energetically more stable than smaller ones. Until now, Ostwald ripening has been observed in liquid and colloidal systems, as well as for metal islands deposited on solid substrates.
As research by UAM scientists has shown, in the case of iron oxide islands formed on the surface of a ruthenium single crystal, Ostwald ripening allows the size of the oxide objects to be controlled, making it possible to obtain systems with specific electron, magnetic or catalytic properties.
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For more information, see the publication Advanced Materials Interfaces.
FIRST TEAM programme is implemented by the Foundation for Polish Science and it is financed by the EU funds from the European Regional Development Fund under the Smart Growth Operational Programme, Axis 8: Improvement of the scientific and research potential, Measure 4.4 Increasing the human potential in R&D sector.
