Meeting with Solvay representative and French Ambassador

On 20 October 2017, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) was pleased to welcome Dr Sylvie Neveu, from Solvay group, and Mr. Bruno Perdu, French Ambassador in Luxembourg, at its premises in Belvaux.

The aim of the visit was to present LIST’s activities in the domain of materials and environment to our guests. 

• Environmental research
  Benoît Otjacques introduced the current research related to e-science, in particular the analysis and the visualisation of complex scientific data. Then Enrico Benetto presented the work related to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Gea Guerriero focused on plants research work. Various innovative research projects were mentioned such as OASIS, BLIZAAR or VALUES projects. The plant-related activities were highlighted by presenting the current research on industrially-relevant molecule production/extraction and plant fibre engineering.
• Materials research
  Emmanuel Bidaine gave to the audience a general presentation of the activities of the department, especially on nanotechnologies, on sustainable polymers and composites and on surfaces and interfaces technology. Right after, Jean-Sebastien Thomann introduced the research works done on engineering of silica nanoparticles as release vectors for cosmetic end-uses.

The second part of the meeting focused on the visit of our materials laboratories. During the visit, the participants have seen to the surface treatment stations, the surface characterization laboratory. They expressed high interest for the surface nanostructuration, and particularly for the production and the characterization of nanoparticles .  

This meeting resulted in an interesting exchange among researchers who were attending. Sylvie Neveu gave an inspiring presentation on the activities of the Solvay group, in particular on new materials based on silica.