strated in the academic literature – don’t offset the energy and emissions of their production, so their net effect may even be negative.’ New and improved materials could provide a solution. In 2019, Vapaavuori and Academy Research Fellow Kati Miettunen received funding for a project called Substainable, which aims to improve the sustainability and efficiency of solar cells with composite materials made from lignocellulosics, i.e. plant biomass. These are more ecological than existing options for conductive transparent substrates – and it is possible to tailor new properties into them. ‘We are working, for example, on adding a layer to solar cells that absorbs and downshifts UV light rays, which do not convert into electricity and can be harmful for many individual solar cell components thus shortening the device lifetime,’ Vapaavuori says. What most fascinates Vapaavuori, however, is understanding the fundamental phenomena of physics and chemistry, research topics with yet-unknown areas of application. For example, her team has made micelles, spherical structures that allow transport of smaller molecules in when exposed to blue UV light and out when under visible light – as if they were inhaling and exhaling under light control. Her team has also studied how to control the wrinkling and movement of materials by attaching light-responsive materials. ‘This is basic research that does not always have a ready application. But I
Prior to Aalto, Jan Deska worked as a professor at RWTH Aachen and Cologne universities in Germany. Jaana Vapaavuori conducted research at the University of Montreal – and dreamed of a career in dance when she was younger.
am very interested in collaborating with people who this inspires to come up with fresh ideas,’ she says.
Introducing sci-fi to the stage
At Aalto University, the building next door may well house a suitable collaboration partner. Vapaavuori recently commenced a softrobotics project with textile experts from the Department of Design: ‘At first, we aim to attach light-controlled artificial muscles to a woven fabric, making it possible to engineer various functions into the textile. It could, for example, protect your body or home from exposure to sunlight by forming patterns that enhance reflectivity.’ Vapaavuori, who once contemplated a career as a dancer, confides that she gets most excited by considering what such technology could achieve on the stage. ‘The more sci-fi side is close to my heart. For example, a dancer’s costume could include moving protrusions, or it could shift colour or shape in tandem with the dancer’s movements – I can hardly wait!’ Multidisciplinary research is only possible with input from experts of many fields. In addition to chemistry, Jan Deska’s research group requires expertise in, for example, microbiology and genetics, while Jaana Vapaavuori works alongside chemists, physicists and optics experts, among others. If everything works out, what might they achieve before the end of this decade? Jan Deska hopes that his laboratory will house sugar-eating cellular factories, which produce hundreds or thousands of different molecules. Jaana Vapaavuori wants to inspire and encourage young researchers to break down the stereotypes about what researchers are expected to be like. ‘The world of science needs more diversity. As a professor, I’m only at the beginning of my career and, first and foremost, I want to find my own place and gain an even deeper understanding of things; get closer to the complexity, which nature has to offer, in a laboratory.’ •
AALTO UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE 25 \ 41