Max Planck Institute

Flexible sensors can detect movement in GI tract

Researchers have built a flexible sensor that can be rolled up and swallowed. Upon ingestion, the sensor adheres to the stomach wall or intestinal lining, where it can measure the rhythmic contractions of the digestive tract.

Swimming microbots can remove pathogenic bacteria from water

The lack of clean water in many areas around the world is a persistent, major public health problem. One day, tiny robots could help address this issue by zooming around contaminated water and cleaning up disease-causing bacteria.

New technique studies neuromodulation in real time

Researchers have developed a light-sensitive technique to visualize and manipulate neuromodulation with unprecedented spatial and temporal precision.

Magic ink from the nano world

New technique could open the way for animating ultra-high-resolution images and for developing extremely sharp displays.

New drive for tiny vessels

Nanorobots and other mini-vehicles might be able to perform important services in medicine one day - for example, by conducting remotely-controlled operations or transporting pharmaceutical agents to a desired location in the body.

Scientists lay foundations for new type of solar cell

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has laid the foundations for an entirely new type of photovoltaic cell. In this new method, infrared radiation is converted into electrical energy using a different mechanism from that found in conventional solar cells.

Innovations in Large-Area Electronics Conference (innoLAE 2017)

A key event for the large-area electronics community, bringing industry and academia together and providing valuable opportunities to share the latest research results and discuss new projects and collaborations.

New ultrasound-powered actuator to develop micro robot

The quest to develop a wireless micro-robot for biomedical applications requires a small-scale "motor" that can be wirelessly powered through biological media.

First superconducting graphene created

Physicists have been able to create the first ever superconducting graphene sample by coating it with lithium atoms.

Silicon micro-funnels increase the efficiency of solar cells

Researchers are working on improving thin-film solar cells based on silicon and want to build funnels into robust cell designs that can be economically realised over large surfaces.

Devices for organic high-capacity memories

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has announced that Kamal Asadi, a physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, receives the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award of the foundation.

New graphene-type material created

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have created a new material, related to graphene, which has the potential to improve transistors used in electronic devices.

Global recognition for a novel form of artificial graphene

A new breed of ultra thin super-material has the potential to cause a technological revolution. "Artificial graphene" should lead to faster, smaller and lighter electronic and optical devices of all kinds, including higher performance photovoltaic cells, lasers or LED lighting.

Shattering records: thinnest glass in Guinness book

At just a molecule thick, it's a new record: The world's thinnest sheet of glass, a serendipitous discovery is recorded for posterity in the Guinness Book of World Records.

World's first synthesis of thiophene nanosheets with 3.5nm thickness

Dr. Taichi Ikeda (Senior Researcher) of the NIMS Electronic Functional Materials Group, Polymer Materials Unit, in joint research with the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Germany), developed the world's first supramolecular thiophene nanosheets, which is a 2-dimensional sheet-type organic material with a thickness of 3.5nm.

A sophisticated nanostructure makes ceramics foldable

Scientists in Stuttgart are currently doing things to a ceramic, which would normally result in a pile of shards.

All eyes on Supercapacitors

Supercapacitors (ultracapacitors) are now center stage for designers of electronics and particularly power circuits. This is because they are improving faster than the batteries and electrolytic capacitors they increasingly replace. More subtly, they reduce the need for and danger from lithium-ion batteries. For example, when placed across a rechargeable battery, they protect it from fast charging and discharging and allow more of the energy in the battery to be utilised. Learn more ...

BASF and Max Planck inaugurate joint research laboratory for graphene

BASF and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research opened their joint research and development platform, the Carbon Materials Innovation Center, on the 24th September at BASF's Ludwigshafen site.