Submitted by Pooja Pandey on Wed, 07/09/2022 - 11:09
Professor Eugene Terentjev is among one of the fifty-five successful frontier researchers who has been awarded the Proof of Concept Grants for his research project – Mesodamp.
It was a relief to win this POC grant, because we have our resources overstretched and fully committed to the existing projects – now we will have an opportunity to dedicate some effort to this exciting and promising industrial application. Professor Eugene Terentjev
The awards are funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and are a part of the EU's research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe. Each frontier researcher will receive worth €150 000 grant, which will be used to explore the commercial or societal potential of their research project results. Professor Eugene Terentjev's project on reversible adhesion damping tapes based on layers of liquid crystalline elastomer will explore the discoveries made under the ERC Advanced Grant ‘APRA’ and develop the industrially-relevant application to impact and enhance vibration damping. The project researchers will work jointly along with two industrial partners, one of which is a Cambridge University startup and the other is the biggest European manufacturer of adhesive tapes.
Eugene Terentjev is an experienced theoretician in soft condensed matter physics. Over the years, his research focuses on structure and dynamical properties of complex materials: polymer systems, liquid crystals and colloids, with an increasing impact in molecular and cell biophysics (biological polymers, tissues and cell mechanics). He has worked extensively on the physics of liquid crystalline elastomers. His multidisciplinary research group combines the chemical synthesis facility, physical experimental laboratory, and theoretical modelling. At present the group is working on the new "exchangeable liquid crystal elastomer" materials and their application in mechanical actuation. The discovery of an anomalous vibration damping in liquid crystal elastomers, and the direct link between the damping and the pressure-sensitive surface adhesion of a material, underpin their new project. The reversibly adhesive material is the ‘Holy Grail’ of the industry, because it allows to attach/detach on demand, and re-use the adhesive instead of disposing it after the single use. The reversible phase transformation of liquid crystal elastomers offers just such a functionality: they are adhesive and damping below the critical temperature of isotropic transition and above the glass transition (both of which can be controlled by chemistry).
Prior to joining Cambridge in 1992, Eugene Terentjev studied in Moscow, obtaining the MSc in 1982 and PhD in 1985. He also carried out postdoctoral research in Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) after which he moved to Cambridge. He is a fellow of Queens' College where he was the Director of Studies in Natural Sciences for over 10 years.
Reacting to the news of the grant, Professor Eugene Terentjev said, “It was a relief to win this POC grant, because we have our resources overstretched and fully committed to the existing projects – now we will have an opportunity to dedicate some effort to this exciting and promising industrial application.”