The University of Paderborn was founded in 1980 and is together with Bielefeld the main university for the German region East Westphalia-Lippe. The University has faculties for Cultural Sciences, Business Administration and Economics, Natural Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematics. There are 15 000 students and 1 700 employees. Almost half of the students come from East Westphalia- Lippe and 75% from the state North Rhine-Westphalia.

The chair for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry (TMC) at the University of Paderborn (UPB) was established in December 2006 under the guidance of Prof. Guido Grundmeier.

The focus of the group is on interfacial processes, interface chemistry and interfacial forces as essential aspects of the synthesis and properties of functional composite or layered materials. The mission is to develop in-situ spectroscopic, microscopic and electrochemical techniques for the analysis of interfacial structures, forces, and processes. Moreover, these experimental studies are combined with computational chemistry in the field of molecular adsorption and molecular forces. Finally, the analytical work is complemented by the synthesis of model thin functional nanocomposite films and organised monolayers.

Another topic is the understanding of self-repair properties on different levels. Mainly, the in-situ electrochemical studies as well as the spectroscopic methods are applied to gain better understanding on the mechanisms and kinetics of self-repair as a function of the size of the defects in the smart coatings. Moreover, chemical force microscopy is applied to study the interfacial forces between the surfaces of the nanocontainer shells and model oxide surfaces und varying corrosive conditions.

Experimental techniques as Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), Polarization Modulation Infrared Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS), Scanning Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (SKPFM), Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM), Focused Ion Beam (FIB) and Ellipsometry are used to characterize the properties and behavior of the coatings.