An international nanotechnology project involving Lancaster University has won an award at a ceremony in Paris.

The QUANTIHEAT project was selected as one of three top EU projects for the Étoiles de l’Europe award which highlights initiatives launched by French scientists.

The 2018 ceremony was held at the Musée du quai Branly — Jacques Chirac in Paris and included Sévérine Gomès for her work on measuring heat at the nanometric scale for the QUANTIHEAT project.

Lancaster University has been closely involved in the project through Professor Oleg Kolosov from the Department of Physics.

Professor Kolosov said: “This project filled major gaps in the measurement of thermophysical values at the nanoscale. Since heat generation and dissipation defines performance of multiple devices from computers to car engines, the development of nanotechnologies, microelectronics and new advanced materials is hampered by the lack of reliable information on the subject.”

Under the leadership of Séverine Gomès, Senior Researcher at the Centre d’énergétique et de thermique de Lyon (CNRS/INSA Lyon/Université Claude Bernard), researchers have developed metrology tools and protocols based on scanning probe microscopy to analyze heat transfer at the nanoscale.

Twenty-one Quantiheat teams worked on the test samples, which were specifically designed for the project, creating novel metrology standards, and developing advanced measurement technologies and instrumentation.

This project is a crucial step in obtaining materials that can isolate or dissipate heat on an infinitely small length scale.

This prize is awarded by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation for high-quality projects, led by French teams involved in a European network, with a multidisciplinary approach.