Abstract

Soft matter systems interacting with harder components, such as in nanocomposites or hybrid materials, are ubiquitous in biology and technology. For instance, mechanical properties of biological materials are strongly influenced by the interfaces between soft organics and mineral phases or crosslinked polymers. This enables fascinating functionalities such as considerable toughening [1], efficient actuation of motion, or even chemo-mechanical energy conversion and elastic energy storage [2]. Similarly, confined soft matter systems can lead to significantly altered behaviour as compared to the bulk [3]. Even simple liquids such as pure water or aqueous electrolytes can show emergent soft-matter like properties in nano-confinement, enabling new technologies for instance in sensorics, ionotronics, nanofluidics, or blue energy harvesting [4]. This mini-colloquium aims at bringing together researchers from several different disciplines for a broad and interdisciplinary discussion of emerging new developments related to biological and soft matter at the interface to- or in confinement within hard matter. We welcome contributions (talks and posters) from (bio-) materials science, soft-matter physics, biophysics, nanotechnology and other related disciplines.

REFERENCES 

[1] M. A. Meyers, J. McKittrick, P-Y. Chen, Science 339 (2013) 773. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1220854
[2] S. Amini, P. Zaslansky, B. Pokroy, P. Fratzl, Advanced Materials (2025) e08442. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202508442
[3] K. Binder, J. Horbach, R. Vink, A. De Virgilies, Soft Matter 4 (2008) 1555. https://doi.org/10.1039/B802207K
[4] L. Bocquet, Nature Materials 19 (2020) 254. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0625-8

Invited speakers

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Organizers