Sustainable materials
Completely sustainable materials do not exist, as every material has an impact. What we aim for is more sustainable materials that fulfil required application criteria while minimizing their environmental and societal impact. Sustainability is thereby interpreted as fulfilling current needs without compromising the needs of future generations. To achieve this, careful consideration of the choice of materials, their starting resources as well as their preparation protocols have to be considered and at best quantitatively assessed for instance in terms of carbon footprint, toxicity, or recyclability.
These so-called sustainable materials have to fulfill their tasks and provide desired properties in the very same way classic materials currently do, yet the sustainability aspects for instance reduces waste or carbon footprint and can thus contribute to a more sustainable development. This opens new challenges in materials design and synthesis and offers the opportunity to develop and fundamentally understand new synthesis routes as well as new structure-property relationships.
At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, we are dedicated to developing more sustainable materials to replace traditional alternatives. Our work spans all classes of materials, including metals, polymers, construction materials, and advanced functional materials essential for the energy transition and other specialized applications, for instance in medicine or for optical materials. Beyond addressing the global environmental footprint, we recognize the critical role of supply chains within the broader societal context, reinforcing our commitment to providing sustainable materials that benefit our society.
The development of more sustainable materials is not an isolated research topic, but rather a fundamental principle to which we are committed across all scientific disciplines. Further details on the activities in the various material classes can be found here:
- Metals (with links to relevant OEs)
- Polymers (with links to relevant OEs)
- Materials for electrochemical energy storage (link)