21 Aug 2019

Nylon as a building block for transparent electronic devices?
As the microelectronic industry is now shifting toward wearable electronic gadgets and electronic textiles, the comprising electronic materials, such as ferroelectrics, should be integrated with our clothes.
26 Jul 2019

Researchers are developing an efficient OLED consisting of one layer
Organic light-emitting diodes are components that no longer consist of compounds containing the semiconducting material gallium, but of so-called organic compounds in which carbon is a main component. Compared to conventional light-emitting diodes, however, the luminosity and lifetime of OLEDs are currently lower, which is why they represent a current field of research.
31 Jul 2018

Targeting headaches and tumors with nano-submarines
Scientists have developed a new method to enable miniature drug-filled nanocarriers to dock on to immune cells, which in turn attack tumors. In the future, this may lead to targeted treatment that can largely eliminate damage to healthy tissue.
5 Feb 2018

A simple new approach to plastic solar cells
Plastic solar cells, based on blends of conducting organic polymers, are of interest for making lightweight and cheap solar cells. The problem with these kinds of solar cells is that their solar power efficiencies are very closely related to the way the different types of materials mix and crystalize in thin films. This means complex and careful processing is usually needed to make efficient polymer solar cells.
8 Aug 2014

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.
6 May 2013

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.
13 Feb 2013

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 ...
27 Sep 2012

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.
24 Aug 2010

Nanoribbons for graphene transistors
Scientists from Empa and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research report how they have managed for the first time to grow graphene ribbons that are just a few nanometres wide using a simple surface-based chemical method.
27 Jul 2010

Materials for tomorrow's nano-electronics
In the recent issue of Nature, scientists from Empa and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research report how they have managed for the first time to grow graphene ribbons that are just a few nanometres wide using a simple surface-based chemical method.