Promatech – Research Centre

 – creates a realistic platform for the development of cooperation between the academia and industry in the field of applied material research that can significantly contribute to the enhancement of the overall competitiveness of the Slovak industry by supporting the implementation of new materials and technologies in production processes and products.

The strategic objective of the project is to build a national centre for the research of advanced materials and technologies for current and future applications, and through the coordination of the research activities of the academic institutions significantly increase the efficiency of research, and to create a modern infrastructure of equipment and staff with joint efforts, which would be sufficient enough to deal with any scientific problems. The aim is to also support the implementation of new materials and technologies in the production processes and products, and thus strengthen the competitiveness of the Slovak industry. The research centre will continuously figure as an integrated, interdisciplinary and sustainable centre, that generates scientific and research results with applicative and innovative potential that are rapidly applied in practice. The university aims to study nanoscale magnetic materials for new types of sensors and hybrid materials based on semiconductors and superconductors for the use in information technology.

The Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice cooperates within the project with the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) (the main coordinator of the project), with the Institute of Materials Research of the SAS, with the Institute of Experimental Physics of the SAS, with the Institute of Geotechnics of the SAS, with the Institute of Materials & Machine Mechanics of the SAS, and with the Technical University in Košice.

The new laboratories of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice that were built within the PROMATECH project:

• Laboratory of Powder and Compacted Sample Preparation is oriented on progressive soft magnetic materials research, with the prospect of their use in electro technological applications. The aim of the research work of the laboratory staff is the preparation of magnetic materials for the basic and applied research of the magnetic properties of soft magnetic ferromagnets, with emphasis on the magnetizing processes occurring during magnetic reversal in DC and AC magnetic fields.,
• Laboratory of Magnetic Properties Study is conducting the research of unconventional magnetic materials from classes of low-dimensional magnets, molecular magnets, and organic magnets. Attention is also directed to the development of new magnetic systems with application potential in the field of energy conversion and magnetic cooling. Application potential is also possible with molecular magnets, their magnetic properties are suitable for the design of recording media with a high recording density when the magnetic molecule with dimensions in nanometer scales represents one bit,
• Laboratory of Scanning Microscopy STM and AFM infrastructure enables the study of mechanical, tribological and electrical properties of materials at the nanoscale with high-energy resolution and in ultra-high vacuum. It enables the preparation, characterization and manipulation of the samples in-situ. The research performed in this facility focuses on quantum design of materials with highly useful properties, which present both, a challenge for the research as well as potential for applications in nanotechnology, IT, sensors, electronics etc. The preparation and characterization of such materials requires the ability to access their nanoscopic properties,
• Low Temperature Nanolaboratory of Materials Magnetic Properties is focused on investigations of magnetic properties of materials at nanoscale with high energy resolution at very low temperatures. Characterisation and quantum design of advanced materials with application potential for mnanotechnologies can be addressed,
• Laboratory for the Preparation of Nanodevices for Electronics, Sensors and Environmental Applications is dedicated to the preparation of nanostructures and thin coatings by electrolytic deposition,
• CSLTEM and Sample Preparation Laboratory  Nowadays, one of the modern materials research lines is focused on relation between inner structure and physical properties of metallic glasses as well as nanocrystaline metallic alloys prepared by primary crystallization of its amorphous precursors. Revealing the structure details of prepared materials employing electron microscopy is therefore a basic prerequisite for accomplish of the research intent that is carried out in the laboratory. In the very near future, research interest of laboratory group will be extended to others non-conventional materials (eg. high-entropy alloys, biodegradable materials, thin films or powder materials) with a promising perspective of practical applications.
  Laboratory equipment enables materials analysis in both, real and reciprocal space, by means of electron beam of different energies. Post-processing and analysis of acquired data, with strong orientation on electron diffraction, are emphasized,
• Low Temperature Laboratory Thermal, electric and magnetic properties of materials can be experimentally explored at very low temperatures, in high magnetic fields and extremely high pressures.

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