The fun started with my first encounter with chemistry back in primary school! It immediately became clear what I would spend the rest of my life doing, with only the shape and form changing over time
Shortly after graduating from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, I started work at the largest, and one of the oldest, scientific institutions in our country: the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences. Following the completion of my Ph.D. and postdoctoral studies, I was lucky enough to meet an exceptional scientist: Dr Haddadi from France’s IEMN [Institute of Electronics, Microelectronics and Nanotechnology]. After a small bilateral project in 2014, he became a consortium member of the large Horizon Europe project (Twinning), GrInShield – 101079151, which has just started.
During a visit to IEMN, the cutting-edge technology in graphene production and analysis was introduced to the Vinča team, but it was the differences in institute ranking and working conditions between the two institutions that proved to have an awakening effect. A project with microrobotics pioneer professor Fatikow’s group at Germany’s Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, created the groundwork for a future partnership. It was then that my colleague Dr Kepić met an enthusiastic and outstanding expert in the field of polymer sciences, professor Huskić of Slovenia’s Faculty of Polymer Technology, FTPO.
It seemed at that point that all the pieces of the puzzle were accounted for, but how could we assemble them?
I spotted huge differences between our institution and those with which we were collaborating. Although our institute had excellent publishing records, with our scientific works published in journals with a high-impact factor and astonishing results achieved in many different fields, partnerships with companies, and the number of submitted project applications, remained much lower compared to similar institutions from developed EU countries. Another issue caught my attention: the fast-growing development of electronic devices has also led to an increase in electromagnetic pollution. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) shows negative effects.
GrInShield is focused on investing in young researchers, expanding their knowledge and increasing their expertise by opening the doors to top-class EU institutions!
The kinds of devices that might generate EMI are those that transmit, distribute or use electricity. EWs can penetrate joints between equipment units and impact negatively on the performance of devices. The rapid development of wearable electronics makes EMI shielding material even more essential. For commercial applications, EMI shielding material (EMI-SE) of 20 dB is appropriate. EMI shielding materials are rigid metals that reflect waves and, due to their rigidity, are not suitable for wearables. Silicone rubber is also a good EMI material, with excellent temperature and chemical stability, but it is expensive.
Designing an EMI shielding product requires the achieving of a compromise between a thick layer of EMI shielding materials that are resistant to mechanical destruction and thin layers that are lightweight and more elastic. Thus, GrInShield focuses on composites based on graphene, selected due to its flexibility, lightweight nature and chemical resistivity, and metallic nanomaterials, selected due to their conductivity and EMI SE efficiency.
And GrInShield thus received its core! And all pieces of the puzzle have started being placed in the right positions!
GrInShield is focused on investing in young researchers, expanding their knowledge and increasing their expertise by opening the doors to top-class EU institutions! With our EU partners, we will establish strong bonds with companies across Europe, while the administration at the Vinča Institute will become a competitive, dynamic and essential tool for researchers, leading to a brighter future at one of Serbia’s largest and most diverse scientific institutions.