Powering Nitrogenases: New ways for sustainable fertiliser production

New targets for improving biocatalysts

26-Feb-2024 - Nitrogenases are considered promising candidates for the sustainable enzymatic production of ammonia and carbon compounds. One bottleneck in this complex process, the supply of electrons to the enzymes, has remained a mystery until now. Now a team at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial ...

Tobias Erb receives the Leibniz Award 2024

Innovative, interdisciplinary research approach opens up new possibilities for developing technologies to address the global climate crisis

11-Dec-2023 - Prof. Dr. Tobias Erb, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology and Professor at the University of Marburg, has been awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The Leibniz Prize is the most important research award in Germany and ...

Unveiling challenges in green hydrogen production

International researcher team reveals adverse effects of hydrogen on catalysts

11-Sep-2023 - The quest for hydrogen as a clean and sustainable energy source has gained momentum. To produce green hydrogen, water must be split into oxygen and hydrogen. This water splitting process is facilitated by electrocatalysts that enhance the chemical reaction rate. Ideally, a catalyst is neither ...

Otto Hahn Medal for chemist Dr Susanne Reischauer

29-Jun-2023 - At its annual meeting in Göttingen, the Max Planck Society awarded the Otto Hahn Medal 2022 to the young scientist Dr Susanne Reischauer. The prize is awarded for outstanding scientific achievements during doctoral studies. Dr. Susanne Reischauer is a chemist who worked at the Max Planck ...

Researchers dive deep into bismuth complexes

Chemists publish startling results in “Science”

23-May-2023 - To be able to exploit the advantages of elements and their molecular compounds in a targeted manner, chemists have to develop a fundamental understanding of their properties. In the case of the element bismuth, a team from the Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung has now taken an important ...

Elegant experiments with light

Researchers find a new way to make use of Photoredox Catalysis

27-Jan-2023 - Scientists of the department of Homogeneous Catalysis have found a new elegant way to make use of photoredox catalysis. Researchers of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung have expanded the molecular toolbox for efficient, targeted syntheses: To do so, they use a very special catalyst - ...

Big award for the development of artificial photosynthesis

Research award and one million euros

12-Nov-2021 - As one of three award winners, Markus Antonietti receives the international research prize "Lombardia è Ricerca", endowed with 1,000,000 euros, at La Scala in Milan. The researchers have developed a process for clean energy production using "artificial photosynthesis" modeled on nature. We humans ...

First programmable photocatalyst developed

With smart materials toward more sustainable chemistry

03-Sep-2021 - Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have developed a sustainable and "smart photocatalyst". The special feature: as a so-called smart material, it can distinguish between the colors of light (blue, red and green) and, in response, enables a specific chemical ...

Discovery of New Solid Catalysts for Water Electrolysis

23-Feb-2021 - Green hydrogen - produced from water electrolysis by using sustainable electricity - is getting more attention due to its potential to be used as energy carrier as well as building block for various industrial processes. Among both half-reactions of water electrolysis, Oxygen Evolution Reaction ...

New class of stable nickel complexes developed

Easy-to-handle nickel complexes for practical application in nickel catalysis

13-Jan-2021 - The use of nickel as a catalyst for the formation of chemical bonds is of great importance to the chemical industry - applications range from the production of fine chemicals to the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, insecticides and pesticides. For the production of nickel complexes, industry has ...