Thursday, 03 October, 2019

Visit to the Nano Institute

Minister Karliczek and Minister Sibler at LMU Munich

 

At the Nanoinstitut: Minister Anja Karliczek and Minister Bernd Sibler (Photo: LMU).

Insights into cutting-edge research at LMU: The Federal Minister of Education and Research, Anja Karliczek, and the Bavarian Minister of State for Science and the Arts, Bernd Sibler, have visited LMU's Nano Institute. They were accompanied by LMU Vice President Professor Francesca Biagini, Physics Dean Professor Ralf Bender and Professor Jochen Feldmann, Chair of Photonics and Optoelectronics at the Nano Institute.

Professor Feldmann led the two politicians through the building and explained the research approach. "Efficient energy production and storage," said Karliczek, "are big topics for the upcoming years. I always say hydrogen is the new oil in the age of regenerative energies."  Munich is an example of how well universities function as "innovation motors" and how much power and creativity results from them.  Minister Sibler said: "Today we could demonstrate impressively that our scientists and our students are working on urgent questions of our time here. They provide answers for our future!"

The Nano Institute researchers investigate tailor-made nanostructures for sustainable solar energy conversion. In so-called photocatalysis, the energy of the sun can be converted directly into chemical energy, for example into the gaseous fuel hydrogen, which does not cause any storage problems. The nanostructures are produced by LMU scientists either by chemical synthesis or by so-called nanofabrication using lithography. The Nano Institute is mainly funded by the Free State of Bavaria via the research network "Solar Technologies Go Hybrid" (SolTech), in which five Bavarian universities are affiliated. Research at the Nano Institute is based on the expertise which LMU scientists have been able to gather for more than ten years in the Excellence Cluster Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM). The working groups at the institute are closely involved in the new Cluster of Excellence e-conversion.

Source: Press release LMU (in German)