Materials Chain
Materials Chain is the first and largest flagship program of the University Alliance Ruhr. It offers a platform for interdisciplinary networking that brings together researchers from fundamental natural sciences to applied materials science and production technology. More than 200 scientists from more than 150 chairs and research groups from Ruhr-Universität Bochum, TU Dortmund University, and the University of Duisburg-Essen research and teach under the umbrella of the flagship program. The profile is complemented by cooperations with 11 regional partner institutions.
Building on the proven strengths at the respective university locations, Materials Chain initiates new research projects and associations to strengthen the role of the Ruhr Area as an internationally leading research region for modern materials and their production. The most prominent example that emerged from the program is the UA Ruhr Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems (FEMS).
Latest News
Three prestigious awards granted to RUB researchers
ERC Consolidator Grants
Lars Borchardt is one of three researchers awarded the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) grant. His project focuses on advancing solvent-free mechanochemistry, a field with immense potential for sustainable chemistry. While significant progress has been made in transferring classical reactions to solvent-free environments like ball mills, many fundamental questions remain unanswered. With... read more
How Catalysts Secretly Lose Their Stability
Electrochemistry
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are promising catalysts, but their true mechanism is surprising. Researchers from Ruhr University Bochum (Kristina Tschulik and Pouya Hosseini) and the Max Planck Institutes for Solid State Research and for Sustainable Materials have shown that COFs’ catalytic activity doesn’t come from the frameworks themselves. Instead, the cobalt ions are released from the... read more
New perspectives for material detection
MARIE Collaborative Research Centre enters third funding period
A major success for terahertz research: Scientists at the University of Duisburg-Essen and the Ruhr University Bochum have been researching mobile material detection since 2016 in the Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio MARIE. The German Research Foundation is now funding the third phase with 14.8 million euros, in which mobile transceivers will be realized that can also analyze the materials... read more
Who are we? Why is collaboration important in modern materials science? And what are we working on?
Upcoming Events
6th Materials Chain International Conference, MCIC 2024: Inorganic Functional Materials, September 12th 2024 at Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Seminar Series “Materials and Energy: Challenges and Opportunities”
The Materials Chain Seminar Series “Materials and Energy: Challenges and Opportunities” brings together highly visible researchers across the various fields of materials science who investigate the intricate relationship between energy and materials. “Energy” and “Materials” have an overarching importance for the future development of our society. They are coupled in multiple ways ranging from fundamental science to real-world applications. Analyzing their intricate relationship as energy-materials nexus, however, is a new approach. Because solutions are urgently needed, this field requires intense interaction and collaboration across scientific disciplines and along the entire chain from fundamental science to industrial application.
The seminar series takes place during winter term on Thursdays and/or Fridays, typically from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The lectures are held in different ZOOM rooms, which will be proclaimed here as well as in the invitations sent to all members of the Materials Chain, who have been signed up for the Newsletter.
Everybody is welcome. Registration is not required. If you receive an invitation as Materials Chain member, please feel free to forward it to other interested researchers at your institution and beyond. Early career researchers, like PhD students, are welcome as well!
Lectures for the upcoming winter term will be annouced in due time.
Video
Take a look behind the laboratory doors of some of the natural scientists and engineers working within the Materials Chain network: