Last week Shauni Keller started in the group as a postdoc on a NWO GoChem KIEM project, entitled “Metaschuim – een nieuw en effectief geluidsisolerend materiaal“. This project, which was started as part of the Top Sector Chemistry Student Competition and which was ultimately the winning project, is now aiming at a more systematic study how foam-like polymer materials containing beads can be prepared, characterised and applied as sound-absorbing materials. Based on the principle of local resonances and viscous dampening, such ‘metafoams’ are capable of dampening both high and low frequency sound. As a result, metafoams can help to tackle the issue of noise pollution, which has increased in severity over the years as a result of population growth, advances in technology and urbanisation.
Good luck, Shauni!