New Materials

Prof. Alois Fürstner and co-workers at Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung developed a new class of molybdenum alkylidyne catalysts equipped with tripodal silanolate ligands which mark a significant milestone in the field of alkyne metathesis. Their improved stability, functional group tolerance, and ease of synthesis position them as valuable tools for researchers and industry professionals alike, promising to expand the scope of alkyne metathesis applications ...

Since 2000 bioinspired fibrillar dry adhesives have been studied intensively culminating in commercial products already available on the market. Currently known fibrillar adhesives are fully wetted by oils, leading to significantly decreased adhesion and friction performance. Therefore, a high demand exists for reversible dry fibrillar adhesives that can repel oil-like liquids and adhere strongly to surfaces wetted by them.

To meet the aforementioned challenges, an extraordinary fibrillar ...

Prof. Kai Sundmacher and co-workers at the MPI for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems developed a novel core-shell catalyst design with a highly active catalyst core surrounded by an inert, low-permeability shell. The new catalyst design leads to an intrinsic heat management that avoids hotspots in strongly exothermic reactions. This allows faster reactor start-up and shut-down and makes the catalysts suitable for rapid load changes in discontinuous processes.

We offer an innovative aqueous composition that promotes ice nucleation at high efficiencies, even at extremely low concentrations of ice-nucleating particles. This breakthrough is particularly relevant in the fields of agriculture, atmospheric science, and the biosphere, where the control over ice formation can significantly impact environmental dynamics and technological applications.

LEL technology stands out for its precision in fabricating 3D metal microarchitectures with intricate geometries and the ability to seamlessly integrate liquids. It utilizes a voxel-by-voxel deposition method, which allows for the creation of complex shapes with submicron resolution. The process involves optimizing variables like deposition voltage, air pressure, and orifice diameter. A significant advantage of LEL is its capacity to alter the pH and composition of the supporting electrolyte solution, ...

We offer a new simple and low cost technology to fabricate graphene-encapsulated metal or metal compound nanoparticles. The resulting hybrid nanoparticles are protected by granted substance claims in US, CN, TW and EP (DE, FR, GB, BE). Currently the patent protected graphene coated nano particles are discussed as high performance electrode materials in the lithium ion battery business (for example Samsung's "Graphene Balls").

The invention relates to a new method of producing SnTiO3 for the use as a ferroelectric element. Tin titanates are known to be a class with various properties making it promising for many applications. The preparation of this material beyond thin films remained challenging.

Tin(II) oxide has a low disproportionation temperature of 350°C but the preparation of new materials is usually conducted at higher temperatures. Therefore, bulk SnTiO3 is not possible to be produced using existing ...

A group of scientists at the MPI for Polymer Research in Mainz developed nano-graphene structures that can be used as a new class of fluorophores for super-resolution microscopy (SMLM and STED).

They perform like hybrids of organic dyes and QDs: they have excellent environment-independent blinking properties, emit high photon numbers, display high photo-stability, possess low toxicity, have a molecular size below 2 nm, and have narrow excitation and emission spectra.

These nanographene ...

Fluorescent dyes are widely used as indispensable markers in biology, optical microscopy, and analytical chemistry. In particular, the sensitive and stable imaging of cellular components depends on the favourable combination of chemical, biological and physical factors. The availability and proper choice of fluorescent dyes is a key factor to success in the entire labelling and imaging procedure. Due to their superior brightness and photostability, synthetic dyes represent an attractive alternative ...

This technology pertains to rare earth metal-free hard magnets with hexagonal or trigonal crystal symmetry. The magnets consist of ternary intermetallic compounds with the general composition X_aX’_bY_cZ_d, where X and X' are 3d transition metals, Y is a 4d or 5d transition metal, and Z is a main group element of groups 13, 14 and 15. The compounds exhibit high uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy, making them suitable for permanent magnetic materials ...

The invention relates to the actuation of micro- and nanostructures controlled by external stimuli. Photo-actuation utilizes the conversion of light via phonons into motion through reversible chemical and physical processes and enables remote and spatiotemporal control of the actuation. Here, we report a fast light-to-motion conversion in few-nanometer thick bare polydopamine (PDA) membranes stimulated by (visible) light. Light-induced heating of PDA leads to desorption of water molecules and ...

Novel gas exchange membranes based on superamphiphobic coatings applied on metal meshes were created and tested in different applications, like gas scrubbing and blood oxygenation.
By using the novel membrans drawbacks of traditional membranes - like insufficient wetting, plugging and depositions chemical incompatibility and temperature instability - can be avoided.