The project focuses on the staff exchange between the partners in Europe and Asia, and on the development of the key enabling technologies for design and fabrication of functional surfaces with the controllable wettability, adhesion/friction and optical functions.

The ultimate goal of FabSurfWAR is to establish long-term research collaboration between Europe and Asia in an emerging field with promising applications in many research areas including biomedicine, energy and environmental science, aerospace, automotive engineering, biological systems, and medical engineering. The synergistic approach established by FabSurfWAR will keep the consortium’s leading position in the world for potential major scientific and technological breakthroughs.

The research objectives of the project are briefly, to:

1. Establish a long-term research cooperation platform through the FabSurfWAR joint programme by exchanging researchers for short periods during the project. At least three new research proposals for both the European and Asian funding programmes will be prepared, and visits between partners will be arranged during and after the project period. As the research work is fully supported by the partners’ existing projects and their own resources, a long-term research cooperation platform will be firmly established for FabSurfWAR, and will continue to operate even after the project finishes.
2. Exchange ideas and technology concepts for the further development of design, fabrication and characterisation of functional surfaces with tuneable wettability, adhesion and reflectivity. All the consortium partners have been actively working on international, national and regional research projects in surface modelling, characterisation, material handling and manufacturing for many years. Their advanced knowledge and expertise will contribute greatly to the development of new technologies on FabSurfWAR.
3. Strengthen research partnerships through staff exchanges and networking activities between European research organisations and Asian institutions. The partners can learn from each other the new science and technology developments of functional surface design and fabrication technologies and benchmark them against their own developments. Each partner will have at least one publication on average each year, giving more than 36 joint publications in total. The consortium has a target of at least 3 patent applications during the project period. It will aim to improve the quality of the information in the public domain in order that designed surfaces can be accepted in products related to biomedical and health areas.
4. Take a synergistic approach to the research areas and explore novel applications for potential major scientific and technological breakthroughs by the optimal combination of the different backgrounds and disciplines for partners

The technical objectives are:

1. Development of functional surface modelling and characterisation techniques. This will include micro/nano-surface metrology and characterisation, surface modelling and representation methodologies for hierarchy and unitary surfaces.
2. Establishment of the correlation between the surface topography and the surface functions. This will explore the relationships between the surface feature and the wettability, adhesion, and reflectivity.
3. Development of micro/nano-fabrication techniques for functional surfaces. This will include laser-based micro/nano-fabrication, Focus Ion Beam (FIB) nanofabrication, micro/nano-imprint and surface coating techniques, and micro/nano-characterisation and experimental testing.
4. Validation of the developed FabSurfWAR technologies. This will include: the established modelling and characterisation methodologies for functional surfaces; the design and fabrication techniques of specific functional surfaces in terms of controllable wettability, adhesion, and reflectivity; and the experimental testing and validation of bacterial reduction, anti-adhesion, and better tribological performance in tools and devices.