Filtering with mussel power

Nanomembrane allows efficient sieving of ions from liquids

27-Sep-2024 - Filters play an important role in many areas of life - from coffee filters to the purification of liquids. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have now produced a filter made of a novel, mussel-like material. The filter, which is only around 20 millionths of a millimeter ...

The Power of light: How light can be used to control processes in synthetic cells

10-Oct-2022 - Synthetic – i. e. artificially produced - cells can imitate certain functions of biological cells. These synthetic cells could open up new medical possibilities in the future. In laboratories, such cells can already help in chemical processes on a miniature scale as "mini-reactors". Scientists at ...

In milliseconds from polluted to clear water

New discoveries in the field of nanoscience

19-May-2021 - Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces developed a membrane that is composed of a bundle of nanometer-sized tubes. They used it as a nanoreactor to convert water marked with methylene blue into clear water in milliseconds using sunlight as a driver. ‘Running reactions ...

Dr. Jiayin Yuan receives ERC Starting Grant

05-Dec-2014 - One of the ERC Starting Grants of the European Research Council goes to Dr. Jiayin Yuan, research group leader in the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam). Endowed with up to 1.5 Mio EUR this grant promotes basic research on nanoporous polymer membranes in the next five ...

Making nanoparticles in artificial cells

30-Jun-2009 - Two new construction manuals are now available for the world's smallest lamps. Based on these protocols, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have tailor-made nanoparticles that can be used as position lights on cell proteins and, possibly in the future as well, as ...