The project "Hyperthermia systems made of superparamagnetic functional materials for contactless heating in medical technology and biotechnology – KoMBio" focuses on the development and application of novel materials for lab-on-chip systems and cancer follow-up care. The COVID pandemic has highlighted the importance of corona testing centers and mass screenings. In order to respond quickly to current events, a range of analytical methods is particularly needed that allows both processes at constant temperature and processes with rapid heating cycles. The development work aimed at in this project could fill a gap, namely enabling heating without electrical connections in mass screening. Another focus is the use of these materials in cancer follow-up care. Hyperthermia treatments based on magnetic nanoparticles have become an important tool in cancer therapy. Particularly in an increasingly aging society, cancer therapies with minimal patient burden are required. Building on the experiences with nanoparticles in cancer therapy combined with the latest manufacturing processes in micro- and nanotechnology, all the prerequisites are now available to develop novel functional materials that enable new and personalized therapeutic methods.

Co-funded by the European Union and the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Conference papers:

• Lukas Lehnert, Benjamin Baumann, Prof. Ronald Thoelen, Prof. Hildegard Moebius: Improved Accuracy in Measuring the Dielectric Constant of Nanoparticles in Electrostatic Force Microscopy, September 15-18, 2025, 51st International Micro and Nano Engineering Conference
• Lukas Lehnert, Lars Helgest, Eddy Kunnen, Ronald Thoelen and Hildegard Möbius: Effectiveness of deconvolution methods for surface reconstruction in AFM, July 7-8, 2026, 18th Annual Conference on Engineering of Functional Interfaces (EnFI)

Publications:

• Lehnert, Lukas; Thoelen, Ronald; Möbius, Hildegard (2026): Revisiting contact potential difference in electrostatic force microscopy. In J. Phys. Commun. 10 (1), p. 15007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2399-6528/ae381f.