Press Releases

Beetle-infested wood is usually considered waste, good only for burning, while swamps are often drained to make space for construction. Until you visit two new temporary exhibitions by »Matters of Activity«, which challenge these long-held assumptions and invite visitors to see both as versatile, living resources for a more sustainable future. more

She receives €50,000 in recognition of her pioneering work on the automated synthesis of complex carbohydrates—long overlooked in research, yet holding great promise for the development of tailored bio-inspired materials and innovative therapeutic approaches. more

The Department of Sustainable and Bio-Inspired Materials (SBM) was one of 24 teams selected from over 270 applicants for the Best Research Environment Award, launched in 2024 by Die Junge Akademie and the Volkswagen Foundation. more

Thanks to a collaboration agreement with battery manufacturer Gelion and with Markus Antonietti acting as an advisor, nanomaterials developed in the Department of Colloid Chemistry are now being used to produce longer-lasting sodium-sulfur batteries. more

Prof. Peter Fratzl, Director of our Biomaterials Department, will contribute his expertise in the science and engineering of biological materials to help inform decision-making and science policy in Germany. more

With a prestigious Max Planck Fellowship (2025–2028), microbiologist Gabriele Berg from the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) is launching a research collaboration with Markus Antonietti. Together, they’re developing a solution to soil exhaustion and infertility: a custom-made soil created in the lab from plant residues, enriched with carefully selected microorganisms.
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Challenge: It's not just whether a membrane is in a "solid" or "liquid" state that matters—how tightly its molecules are packed also influences how protein-rich droplets (condensates) stick to it
Finding: More tightly packed membranes push away condensates, while loosely packed ones attract them
Impact: Understanding these interactions is key to grasping essential cellular functions and disease progression more

Nano-cages made of linalool and sulfur increase the service life and storage capacity of sodium-sulfur batteries
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Scientists have long sought to understand the exact mechanism behind water splitting by carbon nitride catalysts. For the first time, Dr. Paolo Giusto and his team captured the step-by-step interactions at the interface between carbon nitride and water, detailing the transfer of protons and electrons from water to the catalyst under light. This discovery lays critical groundwork for optimizing catalyst materials for hydrogen production as a renewable energy solution.
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The “FatLoop” project will use fatty acids from discarded oils to repurpose plastic waste into functional materials. Led by Dr. Manuel Häußler, FatLoop aims to lay the groundwork for a future beyond conventional plastics, with the long-term goal of developing fully recyclable and sustainable materials that match the versatility of plastics without their environmental footprint. The project has received €2 million in funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
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Supported by the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and the UK Guarantee Scheme, the 'Condensates at Membrane Scaffolds – Integrated Systems as Synthetic Cell Compartments’ doctoral network seeks 17 PhD candidates. This international and interdisciplinary program aims to train future biomedical and biotechnology researchers to explore cellular mechanisms with advanced synthetic models. more

The German Colloid Society’s Young Investigator Award acknowledges Zeininger's work in predicting and controlling the behavior of soft materials outside of thermodynamic equilibrium, as well as his establishment of guidelines for next-generation smart materials capable of responding to external stimuli in real time. more

The secret ingredient for a groundbreaking sodium-sulfur battery with improved energy performance and longer lifespan grows in our gardens: lavender. By combining lavender oil with sulfur, Dr. Paolo Giusto's team has created a unique material that solves a persistent failure problem – polysulfide shuttling. This research marks an important step toward developing more powerful and sustainable batteries for the next-generation large-scale energy storage systems.
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The prestigious 25,000-euro prize recognizes Prof. Markus Antonietti's groundbreaking research in carbon catalysis. He is developing materials with tailored properties for more sustainable chemical synthesis: carbon materials are abundant in nature, consume less energy than metal catalysts, and can be reused. The same Académie once hosted Antoine Lavoisier, the 'father of modern chemistry,' who also marveled at carbon’s versatility. more

With the support of an ERC Starting Grant, Dr. John J. Molloy will use light to design 3D organoboron molecules with tailored properties. His project, LUMIBOR, exploits the hybridization of boron—an element that can switch between planar and tetrahedral atomic configurations—to fine-tune its reactions via light activation. The envisioned molecules will provide versatile building blocks with enhanced reactivity for both fundamental research and industrial applications. more

The Glyconeer 3.1 represents the latest breakthrough in the automated assembly of complex sugar chains. The improved design and technology patented by Peter Seeberger’s research group make their synthesis fast, energy-efficient, and user-friendly. A better understanding of life’s most common molecules promises important advances in fields ranging from biotechnology to medicine and materials science.  
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Dr. Felix Löffler takes chemical synthesis out of flasks and beakers and replaces liquid solvents with solid polymer inks in a 3D multimaterial nanoprinter . A laser beam precisely transfers nanometric amounts of chemical compounds onto an acceptor surface, where thousands of different reactions can take place in parallel. The invention has applications in chemical engineering, biotechnology, and materials science. more

 Scientists can now predict structural colors in bacteria. By sequencing a wide range of bacterial DNA and developing an accurate predictive model, reseachers uncovered how bacteria organize themselves into specific patterns within colonies to interfere with light and create iridescence.Their findings hold great promise for sustainable, pigment-free color production. more

Silica aerogels are among the lightest solid materials and effective insulators thanks to their unique network of pores. X-ray examinations found that bubbles are critical to maintaining the pores during aerogel formation. The emergence of bubbles prevents the material from collapsing and points to low-cost alternative manufacturing methods with varied applications in the construction industry more

Materials can temporarily change shape when a force is applied (elastic deformation) and scientists analyze a slight color change in the ligh reflected under a laser beam. Dr. Shahrouz Amini can now capture elasticity in real time and in 3D with an inverted nanoindenter – like a tiny diamond pencil tip that applies stress to a sample. The invention enables the design of tailor-made materials for applications ranging from microelectronics to prosthetic implants. more