Max Planck Institutes and Experts

In spring 2020, group leader Frank Drewnick started a research series at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, which was spontaneously initiated during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this series, they investigated everyday materials for their suitability for face masks to support the selection of materials and to better understand which factors influence their efficacy. The group repurposed measuring instruments which they normally use to analyze the properties of atmospheric aerosol particles to measure the filter efficiency and pressure drop of household materials.

Carbohydrates are abundant biopolymers with applications ranging from paper and textile manufacturing to pharmaceuticals. Still, their full potential remains untapped, because carbohydrates are not well understood at the molecular level. We synthesized well-defined samples for structural analysis. Imaging single carbohydrate molecules revealed that some polymers form helices while others adopt rod-like structures. These compounds assembled into materials with well-defined compositions, enabling applications in nanotechnology.

In early 2020, the world was taken by surprise by a virus: SARS-CoV-2 spread at blazing speed and confronted everyone with unexpected challenges. Within weeks, we in Göttingen produced groundbreaking new insights into the spread and containment of COVID-19: We analyzed and predicted the spread, quantified aerosol exposure and effectiveness of masks, and designed realistic containment strategies. We made all of these findings available to the public as quickly as possible via press releases, interviews and position papers.

A hybrid data-driven and mechanistic modeling approach is proposed for integrated material and process design. The method has been applied to a few example processes and substantial improvements on the process performance have been achieved.

The industrial use of hydrogen is considered to be forward-looking. But what are the material science challenges in production, storage and use? An interdisciplinary team at the MPIE is using various methods to investigate how hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis, how hydrogen atoms in the material can be detected and how materials can be protected against hydrogen embrittlement. In addition, we work on reducing iron ores by hydrogen instead of carbon, thus avoiding CO₂ emissions.