Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme

The scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (formerly: Max Planck Institute for Metals Research) dedicate their efforts to the material sciences. Their interests include, among other things, how the functioning of materials determines the atomic, nanoscopic and microscopic scale of their macroscopic behaviour. To this end, one of their main fields of research is nanoscience – the scientists investigate magnetic material and fluids on the nanoscale, for example. A further focus of their research is the interface between nanotechnology and biology, such as the behaviour of cells on different surfaces. Many of the phenomena being investigated occur when a material is converted from one state into another or at the interface between two materials. Understanding what happens at such interfaces could help create materials which are more stable and invest them with targeted properties.