The core facility infrastructure is open to all partners interested in materials research. We offer a complementary research platform, analyzing materials from surface to bulk, providing structural, chemical, elemental, isotopical, morpholgical,... information.
Every research question - whether coming from industrial parties, academic partners or knowledge institutions - will be discussed with experts from the supporting research groups. For technical feasible demands, we will discuss with you the way of working for that particular request and provide you with an offer.
Our service ranges from purely performing the measurements, to setting up specific methodologies, data interpretation, collaborating on a research project, training on specific equipment,... Find a short description of the possible services here-under.
For more information, please contact tom.hauffman@vub.be
Data acquisition
After defining which (combination of) techniques is suitable to the scientific problem, an offer is made for the analysis of a certain number of samples, type of analysis, resolution type, number of elements, etc.... The customer will receive the data, in original format or in CSV format (when possible). A short scientific report, describing the type of measurements conducted will accompany the data.
Data interpretation
After acquiring the data, we are involved in data treatment, interpretation and comparison with literature. This type of collaboration goes along with a strong involvement of the supporting research groups, and can be both in the framework of a pure Thirds Services Agreement or part of a scientific collaboration, where the ultimate goal is to create scientific valorization. Depending on the type of contract, a suitable offer will be made.
Methodology and research plan set-up
Sometimes it is not possible to define before-hand which technique is the most suited to solve the scientific problem. In this case, we offer the possibility to set up a larger scale measurement campaign, involving the supporting research groups. This way, we try to tackle the scientific problem from different corners, leading to a specific methodology for the research question posed.
As this type of collaboration can lead to development of techniques, synthesis routes or very specific methodologies, a non-disclosure agreement can be negotiated, protecting the background information from all involved parties.
Furthermore, this way of collaborating can lead to setting-up fundable research projects.
Training
When the customer has large sample sets to be measured, involving a specific technique with well-defined parameters, a training can be foreseen for certain equipment, like Scanning Electron Microscopy. A suitable offer for training (technique, and number of trainees dependent) will be made. For measurements after training, a suited offer will be placed.