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Scattering and tapping on soft-hard-open nuts

Objective

Seeds enclosed in maternal tissue are an important evolutionary plant development as they protect the embryo in many different environments. The protecting coverings are very heterogeneous in structure and origin due to different seed dispersal strategies and environments designed for. The ones having hard outer coverings are commonly called nuts and their shells have recently become of interest for biomimetic research as they represent hard and tough lightweight structures with biological and environmental resistance.
Biological materials are optimized at numerous length scales. To unravel the design principles on the micro- and nano scale and their assembly are a big challenge in biomimetic research. Thus the objectives of this project are threefold: 1) develop in-situ methods for in-depth characterization at the micro- and nano level, 2) reveal the heterogeneity and common design principles by investigating different species and 3) follow development (soft), maturation (hard) and germination (open).
By measuring the inelastic scattering of laser light (RAMAN microscopy), tapping with a tip (Atomic force microscopy AFM, pulsed force mode) and combining both (Scanning near field optical microscopy-SNOM, Tip enhanced Raman spectroscopy-TERS) sophisticated applications for imaging natural packaging structures will be developed. This will enable us to gain new insights into micro- and nanochemistry as well as nanomechanics in the context of tissue and cell organization. Furthermore in-depth knowledge on the developmental processes of cell assembly, maturation and germination will be obtained. This will lead to a better understanding of the underlying design principles, which is important in order to extract structure-function relationships and identify features that contribute e.g. to the high strength and cracking resistance and longevity. Such information is important for biology (agriculture) and will give new input in intelligent biomimetic material design.

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ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2015-CoG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITAET FUER BODENKULTUR WIEN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 993 606,25
Address
GREGOR MENDEL STRASSE 33
1180 Wien
Austria

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Region
Ostösterreich Wien Wien
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 993 606,25

Beneficiaries (1)

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