Projects

SCML International contributes to collaborative research projects in soft matter, complex fluids, clay-based materials, and sustainable functional materials. Activities build on long-standing international scientific collaborations and span both fundamental physico-chemical research and materials-oriented applications.

Current project activities include studies of active biological systems in complex colloidal environments, including bacterial motility in structured and confined media and clay–RNA interactions relevant to prebiotic selection and origin-of-life scenarios.

Another research direction applies artificial intelligence, machine learning, and molecular-dynamics simulations to complex soft-matter and materials systems, supporting structure–property relationships, dynamic behaviour analysis, and model-guided interpretation of experimental observations.

Plant-extract-based and bio-derived colloidal systems represent a further research line, with particular focus on Pickering emulsion science relevant to food and soft-matter applications. This work explores stabilisation mechanisms using natural extracts, notably Moringa oleifera, and interfaces with hybrid material platforms combining bio-sourced and mineral components.

Clay-based soft-matter systems remain a central theme across several projects, including nanosheet suspensions, swelling and confinement phenomena, scattering studies, and functional architectures based on layered materials. Earlier Research Council of Norway (RCN)-funded projects formally anchored at NTNU have now been completed, while scientific collaboration with NTNU researchers continues through joint research activities, publications, and proposal development.

Additional project directions address earth-abundant and bio-sourced functional materials for applications such as gas separation, structural coloration, sustainable pigments, photonic materials, and opto-mechanical systems.

Across projects, emphasis is placed on low-energy processing routes, self-organisation, and solution-based assembly, enabling scalable materials concepts without reliance on scarce or critical raw materials.

SCML International typically contributes through scientific coordination, conceptual development, experimental planning, data interpretation, and proposal development, while experimental work is carried out with partner laboratories and shared research facilities.