INCT 2014: in Functional Complex Materials

Abstract

This new INCT proposal is being presented by the same team that has concluded the previous project. This new proposal contains great changes and preserves the main performance rules characteristic from the first term of the project, which determined a very positive feedback from the evaluators concerning to results on all project approaches. On the other side, based on results obtained, this proposal intends to present a more precisely focus and to answer to the big changes in science and technology which developed in the last six years since the previous proposal. The basis of this proposal is to guarantee an intense and high quality scientific activity coming from the R&D participant groups, validated by the interest raised by their results with partners, innovative companies? Professionals, the ones that make and implement public policies and with the public. The viability of conversion of new scientific knowledge on products and processes depends of the knowledge generated, the scientists? Familiarity with the economic and social context on which they actuate and of their capacity to dialogue with companies? Professionals, on all sectors of the economy. At the first INCT program, the INOMAT participants obtained scientific results that answered important scientific questions and opened new research frontiers. At the same time, they engaged on working with companies on several ways: consulting. R&D partnership projects, technology transfer, and by execution of complex technological services. The scientific and technological results obtained were plentiful and of high quality, placing INOMAT members on a distinguished position on the science frontiers and on the Brazilian innovation scenario. INOMAT members have been participating on products and processes development, working with professionals from different industrial sectors. Besides that, INOMAT presence on scientific and technological diffusion has offered the access to knowledge and to innovative high quality activities to a large number of people, including more than one million students from fundamental and high school. The main objective of this new proposal is to create new functional complex materials and to incorporate them to innovative products, as well as to create their respective production processes, together with the evaluation of the environmental and toxicological risks possibly associated with these materials. The activities linked to material creation will extend to all the fundamental, theoretical and experimental research work which leads to a new candidate material to become the basis for an innovative product, The incorporation of new materials to products results in radical innovations and also in incremental improvements which are possible due to the incorporation of new science to existing products, contributing to the sustainability of these products, of the manufacturing companies (of various origins and sizes) and of the Brazilian economic activity. The attention to the processes of production and transformation of materials, that was implicit on INOMAT previous project, turns to be the central focus on this new project, including advanced processes on micro and nanomanufacturing. Risk evaluation initiated previously on INOMAT and which has considerably grown during its execution, becomes an integrant part of this new proposal considering the consolidation and intensification of research about nanomaterials biofunctionalities, including nanotoxicology nanobiotechnology and applications on health and on environmental improvement. Themes: new materials, their production processes and their impact on human health and environment constitute a very broad universe. On this project, themes were delimited and defined by their expected results and their compatibility with the research lines of the groups that compose this INCT. The themes were chosen according to the opportunities they present, obeying the following criteria: 1) feasibility of leading to important scientific contributions, considering the current state of the art, the position of the group in charge by the research line on the international scenario, the material resources available and the interaction of the themes chosen with the other ones considered on this project; 2) feasibility of converting results obtained on new products and processes, considering the interactions among the research groups, entrepreneurs and new or existing companies, and also considering risks eventually created by new products and processes; 3) synergies among the different themes and research lines considered, which recommend their incorporation to the new project. The research themes are grouped as follow: i) synthesis and characterization of materials; ii) manufacturing and processing materials (including micro- and nanofabrication); iii) interactions with biosystems and applications in healthcare; iv) electroprocessing, electric charging of materials and tribology, wherein the detailed research plans are presented in an attachment to this online form. The level of detail of all documentation is consistent with the size limit of the attached file, as listed by the INCT call. The budget is shared among all allowed items. The biggest part is destined to different categories scholarships mainly for PDJ and includes scholarships for scientific and technological diffusion. An important amount was destined to the acquisition of for an Auger microprobe, great potential major equipment for materials characterization with nanometric spatial resolution and a large capacity of chemical speciation yet not available in Brazil. About one fifth of the budget was allocated for operational and small capital expenses of the research groups participating on the INCT. Less than a tenth part is reserved to fund scientific diffusion and management activities. (AU)