KIT, Amadeus Bramsiepe

2025 geht derManfred-Fuchs-Preis an den Tenure-Track-Professor Dr. Pascal Friederich (KIT) für seine Arbeiten zur Nutzung von künstlicher Intelligenz in der Entwicklung neuer chemischer Materialien. Hintergrund sind die schier unendlich große Anzahl möglicher Materialien, die durch Kombination chemischer Stoffe gewonnen werden kann, und die große Relevanz von Materialien mit anwendungsspezifischen Eigenschaften.

Abbildungen: IAM, KIT / Collage: Anja Sefrin, KIT

Mechanische Metamaterialien mit hoher elastischer Energiedichte hat ein am Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) koordiniertes internationales Team von Forschenden entwickelt. Dank stark verdrehter Stäbe, die sich spiralförmig verformen, weisen sie eine hohe Steifigkeit auf und können große Mengen elastischer Energie aufnehmen und wieder abgeben. Ihre zunächst theoretisch ermittelten Ergebnisse bestätigten die Forschenden durch einfache Druckexperimente.

Maryna Leonidivna Meretska, KIT

Be it sensors, cameras, or displays: Metasurfaces have the potential to fundamentally improve optical systems in our everyday lives. By controlling light more precisely, they drive compact, multi-functional solutions. At Hannover Messe, which starts on Monday, March 31, 2025, researchers from KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) will present an optical component that enables highly efficient light control at steep angles of incidence, overcoming previous limitations.

Magali Hauser, KIT

How can an app recognise your emotions? How does a potato become a battery? How do you capture the sun? And what does a product developer, materials researcher or civil engineer actually do? On Girls Day 2025, Thursday, April 3, girls will find answers to these and other questions, as well as information on suitable courses of study and apprenticeships, at the North and South Campus of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Girls from the 5th class of all types of schools can inform themselves about jobs and tasks in STEM subjects at KIT.

Markus Breig, KIT

Smart interconnection and control of devices, direct recycling of battery electrodes, and sustainable cooling and heating – at Hannover Messe 2025 from March 31 to April 4, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will present solutions for a number of challenges at Future Hub (Hall 2, Stand B35), Energy Solutions (Hall 13, Stand C76), and at other stands. Moreover, promising startups will showcase their work and the commitment of KIT’s students will be highlighted.

Christian Flierl, University of Basel

The European Commission has approved the proposal submitted by Eucor – The European Campus for a new international training program for doctoral candidates in quantum science and technologies. Gen-Q will enable 51 young scientists to complete their doctorate with an international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral focus. Eleven of them conduct research at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The program is scheduled for a duration of five years and has a total budget of more than EUR 12 million.

Peter W. Roesky

Quanteninformationstechnologien sind Innovationen in der modernen Datenspeicherung und -verarbeitung, die auf Quanteneffekten basieren. Materialien, die sich für solche Anwendungen eignen, müssen unter anderem bestimmte magnetische Eigenschaften aufweisen. Forschende am Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) haben nun gemeinsam mit Partnern im Fachjournal Nature Communications neue chemische Verbindungen vorgestellt, die diese Voraussetzungen erfüllen.

Daryoush Djavadi

In a networked society, secure communication is essential. Quantum physics delivers the necessary foundation by allowing practicable technologies such as quantum key distribution. With the new fiber optic test facility at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which opened on January 22, 2025, researchers aim to transmit, test and refine quantum keys. They also plan to set up a quantum network to link quantum computers.

KIT

Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have synthesized a Bi5--ring, a molecule with five bismuth atoms, and stabilized it in a metal complex. Their discovery fills a gap in chemical knowledge and enables future applications in materials research, catalysis, and electronics.

S. Lehchanska/nature

An international team of researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has developed a new method for analyzing actinides. The method provides unique insights into the electronic structures and bonding properties of these heavy, radioactive elements in the bottom row of the periodic table. It could help in the development of improved radiotherapeutic products and contribute to a deeper understanding of the behaviour of actinide compounds in the environment and in nuclear waste disposal.

Foto: Markus Breig, KIT / Grafik: Felix Laufer, KIT

In the lab, perovskite solar cells show high efficiency in converting solar energy into electricity. In combination with silicon solar cells, they could play a role in the next generation of photovoltaic systems. Now researchers at KIT have demonstrated that machine learning is a crucial tool for improving the data analysis required needed for commercial fabrication of perovskite solar cells.

KIT

Scientists from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) have developed a surface material that repels water droplets almost completely. Using an entirely innovative process, they changed metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) – artificially designed materials with novel properties – by grafting hydrocarbon chains. The resulting superhydrophobic (extremely water-repellent) properties are interesting for use as self-cleaning surfaces that need to be robust against environmental influences, such as on automobiles or in architecture.

Kurt Fuchs/HI ERN

Perovskite solar cells are a flexible and sustainable alternative to conventional silicon-based solar cells. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are part of an international team that was able to find – within only a few weeks – new organic molecules that increase the efficiency of perovskite solar cells. The team used a clever combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and automated high-throughput synthesis. Their strategy can also be applied to other areas of materials research, such as the search for new battery materials.

Universität Ulm, Karolina Schüle

For the past ten years, the Centre for Quantum Science and Technology (IQST) at the Universities of Stuttgart and Ulm and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF) has been at the forefront of interdisciplinary research in quantum science and technology. Its mission extends beyond basic research to focus on potential applications and their benefits for society. With the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), a further supra-regional institution has now joined the world-renowned centre, marking a significant step towards a state-wide network for the scientific "quantum community" in Baden-Württemberg.

Queensland University of Technology

With his research, Professor Christopher Barner-Kowollik makes it possible to develop high-precision materials and surfaces for special applications in nanotechnology and materials science. Now the macromolecular chemistry expert has been selected for an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. Next year he is expected to conduct research on new materials and polymer-based systems at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

PHABIOC

PHABIOC, a Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) spin-off, can replace up to four conventional sample holders with its SpecPlate, an innovative design that improves the efficiency, speed and precision of lab work while drastically reducing the amount of consumables. Mass production is now beginning.

Xuchen Wang, KIT and Harbin Engineering University

Photonic space-time crystals are materials that could increase the performance and efficiency of wireless communication or laser technologies. They feature a periodic arrangement of special materials in three dimensions as well as in time, which enables precise control of the properties of light. Working with partners from Aalto University, the University of Eastern Finland and Harbin Engineering University in China, scientists from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have shown how such four-dimensional materials can be used in practical applications.

IAMT, KIT

Steroid hormones are among the most widespread aquatic micropollutants. They are harmful to human health, and they cause ecological imbalances in aquatic environments. At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), researchers have investigated how steroid hormones are degraded in an electrochemical membrane reactor with carbon nanotube membranes. They found that adsorption of steroid hormones on the carbon nanotubes did not limit the hormones’ subsequent degradation.

Simone Staron; Dirk Holtmann

Researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have received grants from the Carl Zeiss Foundation’s CZS Wildcard program. In her project entitled UCART, physics professor Anke-Susanne Müller is working on a new radiation therapy method for directly irradiating tumors in the patient’s body with an electron accelerator. Electrobiotechnology professor Dirk Holtmann aims to develop a process for converting CO2 into useful chemicals in his CoMet2 project. With its Wildcard program, the Carl Zeiss Foundation (CZS) supports unconventional research projects with EUR 900,000 each for a period of two years.