2024
Mapping the Nanoscale Architecture of Functional Materials

Researchers of the Laboratory for Mesoscopic Systems with colleagues at the Paul Scherrer Institute, the University of Oxford and the Max Plank Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids have developed a pioneering X-ray technique to probe the 3D orientation of a material’s building blocks at the nanoscale. The technique allows the visualization of crystal grains, grain boundaries and defects - critical factors that govern material performance.
Smart Microcapsule Arrays Mark Local Stress Variation in Materials

Research team led by the Laboratory for Soft Materials and Interfaces have created microcapsule arrays that can simultaneously record the different history of stress levels by changing color. This technology enables monitoring microscale damage and pressure in materials.
Golden Owl for Prof. Morgan Trassin, Award for Best Teaching for Prof. Nicola Spaldin

The Golden Owl honours lecturers who have provided exceptional teaching and motivates them to continue with their excellent teaching.
Morgan Trassin and Tanja Zimmermann Receive the Dandelion Award 2024

The Dandelion Award is the first award to recognize professors for their outstanding efforts to promote entrepreneurship at ETH Zurich and beyond.
Hybrid Resonant Metasurfaces with Configurable Structural Colors

Researchers at the Laboratory for Nanometallurgy have developed a new fabrication method for non-primitive metasurfaces. Thereby the colors of these metasurfaces represent and visualizes light-matter interactions.
Carla Fernandez-Rico is Awarded the SNSF Ambizione Fellowship

Carla Fernandez-Rico has been awarded the SNSF Group Leader Ambizione Fellowship to start her independent research within the Complex Materials' group.
Inaugural Lecture of Prof. Hedan Bai: Reimagine Robotics with Material Science

We are delighted to invite you for the inaugural lecture of Prof. Hedan Bai, who will share with us some of the research her team has initiated in the newly established Robotic Materials group at Department of Materials.
ETH Silver Medal and SVMT Prize at the Doctoral Awards Ceremony

Each year outstanding doctoral theses are honored with the Silver Medal of ETH Zurich. This year’s awardees that were supervised by a D-MATL faculty member received their medal at the last doctoral awards ceremony on July 12, 2024.
Nicola Spaldin Receives an Honorary Doctorate from Queen's University Belfast

This well deserved honour recognises Nicola Spaldin's pioneering research on multiferroics. The Honorary Doctorates has been conferred at a special ceremony on June 25th at the Queen's University Belfast.
Athina Anastasaki Receives the Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award

Athina Anastasaki, Head of Polymeric Materials, receives the 2024 Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award which recognizes significant research innovation and achievement in a polymer scientist under 40.
Alberto Carta won a Poster Prize at the Nanoscience Reunion in Groningen

Congratulations to Alberto for winning the prize for his poster "solid_dmft: Grey-boxing the description of strongly correlated materials" on the occasion of the 20-years-of Nanosience celebration.
Nature does the Best Experiments! Solar Eclipse of 8 April 2024 from Shirley, Arkansas

Although realized by few, total solar eclipses are one of the most unusual events that nature has to offer. An impression from the Laboratory for Multifunctional Ferroic Materials.
DPG-INNOMAG Award in Magnetism to Chia-Jung Yang

Each year the world's largest association in magnetism – the Division of Magnetism of the German Physical Society (DPG) awards the INNOMAG Prize for the best dissertation. This year it goes deep into the quantum world where magnetism competes with other correlated states.
A Light Switch for Oxide Electronics

Light is an effective tool to probe the polarization and domain distribution in ferroelectric materials non-invasively. With the emergence of oxide electronics, there is now a strong demand to expand the role of light toward active control of the polarization. A research team led by Prof. Trassin and Prof. Fiebig at the ETH Zurich in the DMATL demonstrated the optical control of the ferroelectric polarization in prototypical epitaxial heterostructures.
Athina Anastasaki Receives the Macromolecular Rapid Communications Junior Researcher Award

Athina Anastasaki, Head of Polymeric Materials, receives the 2024 Macromolecular Rapid Communications Junior Researcher Award in the fields of chemistry, physics and application of polymer systems.
Acid-Triggered Radical Polymerization of Vinyl Monomers

The Laboratory of Polymeric Materials presents a new method of initiating and accelerating radical polymerizations.