ReseaRch Quality assuRance foR the futuRe a ... - Lund University

Panel 14 – chemistry
able to find on the web this research is quite young. It seems as the group
has published 5–10 papers on this subject which have not yet been cited
much. The strategic value for KILU is important for future decisions
about this research.
Total work done: Quality very good to excellent; highly relevant.
Present/future: Going well, but difficult to evaluate.
2.3.9 Nanotechnology and functional polymers
From the additional material one can conclude that only 5 faculty members
are active in this field with one of those being actually more into biophysics
and one is retiring 2008. This seems to be below the critical mass.
In the report it is stated that. ”18 years ago, we launched a cross-disciplinary
nanotechnology initiative; the nanometer structure consortium, where we
contributed with our knowledge in inorganic chemistry, crystallography,
atomic scale characterisation and materials properties. Other partners are
Solid state physics, cell- and organism biology, electro- and information
techn., mathematical physics and medicine, in all ca 40 senior scientists.”
It looks like the chemists are partners in this, but maybe not the major
player as a very low number of faculty members are involved. From that
initiative, a major achievement out of the chemistry department is the
production of nanowires and nanotrees where it is claimed now that the
KILU group belongs to the top 3 groups in that field (publications are
convincing, citation is excellent but output is still limited). The contributions
come here mainly from catalysis, which is important, but future
development needs a more interdisciplinary approach to go into application
e.g. building nanoelectronic based devices.
Total work done: Excellent, some parts outstanding¸ but under the critical
mass; highly important and relevant.
Present/future: Going well, but needs expansion! Major player retired?
It is not possible for the Panel to identify the leading KILU person from
those 4.5 faculty members being involved in this research field. Only one
of those was a coauthor of the high ranking publications but his own
publication list is too small.
The “functional polymer” part can be divided into two: There is a highly
active synthetic group represented by one lecturer who focuses on the
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