The project involved a number of activities. The work was divided into the following themes:
1. Beamtime. An access to the synchrotron facilities was provided through custom proposals. In total 4 proposals were submitted and granted, which amounted to 336 hours of beamtime at Diamond Light Source over a period of 24 months. Three proposals concerned an access to high-energy X-ray diffraction (HEXD), and one small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). All beamtimes were used to study the early stages of nucleation and growth of mineral phases from aqueous solutions.
2. In house experiments and analyses. The core of the preparatory work, as well as the high-resolution electron microscopy analyses was performed at the institute.
3. Software. For the purpose of data analyses from electron microscopy and synchrotron-based scattering data, a number of computer scripts was developed. Some of them are already available through the project website, others are/will be a part of the publications.
4. Outreach. In order to promote the societal impact of the project, several outreach activities tailored for primary school children were organised. On three occasions (2017,2018,2019) children could explore how crystal grow as a part of the Long Night of Science in Berlin and Potsdam. Furthermore, we also held a 1-day workshop for children from grades 1 and 2, attending a local school. This workshop was adjusted to match their school curriculum and concerned different experiments related to fire, as a tool to explore the structure and properties of materials.
5. Proposals. Based on the results of of the project, two proposals were written for the 3rd party funding of the future projects concerning next generation cements. One of the proposals concerned a network involving 14 PhD students (ITN).
6. Publications. The results of the project contributed to 12 already published, and 2 upcoming peer-reviewed articles.
