Towards energy-efficient brain-like computers

Researchers identify key mechanisms and novel materials for biologically inspired information processing

04-Jan-2024 - Every search engine query, every AI-generated text and developments such as autonomous driving: In the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, computers and data centres consume a lot of energy. By contrast, the human brain is far more energy-efficient. In order to develop more powerful ...

Battery researcher Valeria Nicolosi receives the Diels-Planck Medal

13-Oct-2023 - Valeria Nicolosi, Professor of Nanomaterials at Trinity College Dublin, is awarded the Diels Planck Medal of KiNSIS for her pioneering work in energy storage. This is the tenth time that the interdisciplinary network "Kiel Nano, Surface and Interface Science" at Kiel University has honoured ...

Muscles for soft robots inspired by nature

Materials researchers significantly improve the performance of hydrogel actuators

08-Sep-2023 - Robots made of metal and other solid materials are already widely used in industry. But they are too rigid and cumbersome for fine-motor activities and interaction with people, such as in nursing or medicine. Intensive research is therefore already being carried out into robots made of soft ...

Detecting pollutants at ultra-trace levels

Material scientists develop nano-structured and reusable substrate for ultra-sensitive detection of low-concentration analytes - Spin-off planned

29-Mar-2023 - Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (or Spectroscopy), known as SERS, is an advanced analysis method that extends the range of Raman applications to trace analysis such as part per million level detection of a pollutant in water or different liquids. SERS has a high potential to be used in the ...

Airy material with explosive power

New method for the generation of controllable electrical explosions

17-Nov-2021 - Theoretically, it only takes 450 grams of this material to lift an elephant: "Aerographene" owes this ability to its unique structure at the nano level. Visually similar to a black foam, it actually consists of a finely-structured tubular network based on graphene with numerous cavities. This ...

Nano coatings with many functions

Materials scientists synthesize nanoscale gradient copolymers with contradictory properties for the first time

05-Nov-2020 - Materials that simultaneously have contrasting properties – for example, they are soft on the one hand and hard on the other, the transition is gradual - could enable completely new applications like gradual anti-reflective lenses. In nature, such merging properties are indeed common, for example ...

New toolbox for the nanooptics allows the theoretical description to the highest accurate level possible

Physicist demonstrates the dynamics of electron-light interaction originating from first principle

02-Sep-2020 - With the highest possible spatial resolution of less than a millionth of a millimetre, electron microscopes make it possible to study the properties of materials at the atomic level and thus demonstrate the realm of quantum mechanics. Quantum-physical fundamentals can be studied particularly well ...

Watching atoms and electrons at work

03-Sep-2018 - The properties of materials are determined by their atomic structure. If atoms and electrons change their positions, then the characteristics of a material also change. The complex processes that occur during these changes are being investigated by a working group at Kiel University (CAU), using ...

Controlling adhesive material remotely with light

Bioinspired intelligent material transports micro-objects

26-Jan-2017 - Adhesive mechanisms in the natural world, as used by geckos and other animals when they walk upside down on the ceiling, have many advantages: they are always strongly adhesive - and without any glues or residues. Scientists at Kiel University are researching how these mechanisms can be ...

Manipulation of the characteristics of magnetic materials

18-Nov-2016 - Magnets are not everywhere equally magnetized, but automatically split up into smaller areas, so-called magnetic domains. The walls between the domains are of particular importance: they determine the magnetic properties of the material. A research team of material scientists from Kiel University ...