Interfaces at which hard and soft matter meet occur often in both natural and synthetic systems. A mismatch in chemical reactivity, mechanical response, or adaptability to the environment across soft–hard interfaces makes them the place where many exceptional physicochemical phenomena happen (e.g., mineralization in biological tissues, electrochemical processes in batteries, charge and mass transport in light transducing devices, to mention just a few). To understand the complex structure–property relationships and to be able to control processes at soft–hard interfaces, the development of specific characterization tools that can be applied across different disciplines is required.These tools will help to not only obtain detailed knowledge about atomic and electronic structure but also reveal nano- and mesoscale dynamics of mass and charge at such interfaces.

This symposium aims to bring together scientists working on the characterization of hybrid interfaces using different methods (electron microscopy, optical microscopy, X-ray spectroscopy methods, scanning probe microscopy, etc.) across different disciplines (biology, chemistry, physics, geology). Specific attention will be given to methodologies that enable to resolve atomic and electronic structure of interfaces, to follow processes at interfaces in-situ and in-operando and to develop approaches to standardize the analysis of hybrid interfaces.