Meet the Partners: Vrije Universiteit Brussel

 

Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is located in Brussels and has a great focus on Electrochemical and Surface Engineering. The team of professors, postdoctoral researchers, Ph.D. students, engineers, and economists, supported by a professional technical and administrative staff wants to contribute to the societal and technological challenges of the 21st century. 

With a strong emphasis on durability and sustainability, they aim for the development of the next generation of high-performing and multifunctional metal surfaces, their production and their applications. 

 

Some of the reasons why VUB tackles those challenges are:

• Some of the key mineral resources in the current economy will be exhausted in the next few years if exploited at the present rates, bringing recycling and additive manufacturing into the picture.
• Corrosion of metals is yearly costing approximately 1 to 5 per cent of a nation’s GNP, based on direct costs only.
• Renewable energy sources call for revolutionary energy storage systems. 

 

The way VUB intends to overcome those challenges is by:

• Teaching and educating the engineers of tomorrow. 
• Conducting research, learning how to modify, analyze and model bulk metal surfaces (on the nanometer scale), nanoparticles and wires in interaction with their environment. 
• Their services to third parties, sharing the knowledge with industrial partners and societal organizations.

 

In NICKEFFECT, VUB will be leading the modelling of electrodeposition processes and will be also involved in the coating development and characterisation of related data, and in the scaling-up of production-related data.