7th Materials Chain International Conference – MCIC 2025
Future Energy Materials and Systems
MCIC 2025 will take place at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany on September 22, 2025.
About MCIC 2025
Materials are fundamental to achieving a sustainable energy future. We urgently need innovative material systems that can efficiently harvest, store, and convert energy with minimal environmental impact. This requires a dual focus on the discovery and design of new materials, as well as accelerating the transition from academic research to large-scale industrial production.
The 7th Materials Chain International Conference: Future Energy Materials and Systems brings together leading scientist in materials science to explore the latest advancements and applications of future materials for energy systems. The event will feature talks from the new appointed professors within the Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems, invited talks and a poster session, providing a platform to discuss cutting-edge research, share insights and foster collaborations.
Conference Programme
| 8:45 – 9:30 a.m. | Registration | |
| 9:30 – 9:45 a.m. | Welcome by the Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems | |
| Session 1 | Materials and electrochemistry | |
| 9:45 – 10:15 a.m. | Iryna Zenyuk (University of California, Irvine, USA): “Structural differences of amorphous and crystalline IrOx catalysts for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer at beginning and end of life.” |
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| 10:15 – 10:30 a.m. | Christian Liebscher (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany): “Prospects in using grain boundary phase transformations to tailor catalytic properties of nanocatalysts.” |
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| 10:30 – 10:45 a.m. | tba (Technical University Dortmund, Germany): “Colloidal nanostructures for optoelectronic devices.” |
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| 10:45 – 11:05 a.m. | Coffee break | |
| Session 2 | Theory and machine learning for materials for energy | |
| 11:05 – 11:35 a.m. | Gian-Marco Rignanese (UC Louvain, Belgium): “Response properties of inorganic materials from high-throughput density-functional perturbation theory and machine learning.” |
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| 11:35 – 11:50 p.m. | Silvana Botti (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany): “Data-driven acceleration of materials discovery and optimization for energy applications.” |
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| 11:50 – 12:05 p.m. | Miguel Marques (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany): “Materials data for machine learning modelling.” |
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| 12:05 – 1:30 p.m. | Lunch | |
| 1:30 – 1:50 p.m. | Welcome by the Research Alliance Board | |
| Session 3 | Quantum materials and their relevance for energy | |
| 1:50 – 2:20 p.m. | Kornelius Nielsch (TU Dresden, Germany): “Bridging experiment and computation to discover exotic thin-film semiconductors.” |
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| 2:20 – 2:35 p.m. | Gabi Schierning (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany): “Topological properties of thermoelectric materials probed by transport measurements.” |
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| 2:35 – 2:50 p.m. | Dennis Meier (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany): “Defect-property relations in functional oxides.” |
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| 2:50 – 3:10 p.m. | Coffee break | |
| Session 4 | Materials design, syntheses and characterization | |
| 3:10 – 3:40 p.m. | Sergei V. Kalinin (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA): “tba.” |
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| 3:40 – 3:55 p.m. | Andrea Kirsch (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany): “High-entropy oxides as innovative energy materials.” |
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| 3:55 – 4:10 p.m. | Anna Isaeva (Technical University Dortmund, Germany): “Synthetic control over the magnetic order in the Mn-Sb-Te topological insulators.” |
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| 4:15 – 6:30 p.m. | Poster session with snacks and cold drinks |
Invited Speakers
Th following invited speakers confirmed their participation at the conference.
- Kornelius Nielsch (TU Dresden, Germany)
- Gian-Marco Rignanese (UC Louvain, Belgium)
- Iryna Zenyuk (University of California, Irvine, USA)
- Sergei V. Kalinin (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA)
RC FEMS Speakers
The follwoing speakers from the Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems confirmed their participation.
- Silvana Botti (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany)
- Anna Isaeva (TU Dortmund, Germany)
- Andrea Kirsch (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany)
- Christian Liebscher (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany)
- Miguel Marques, (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany)
- Dennis Meier, (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany)
- Gabi Schierning (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany)
Registration for MCIC 2025
Registration is open. For further information, please contact rcfems@uaruhr.de.
Sessions
- Materials for electrochemistry
- Theory and machine learning for materials for energy
- Quantum materials and their relevance for energy
- Materials design, syntheses and characterization
Scientific Committee
MCIC 2025 is organized by
Conference Venue
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MCIC 2025 will take place at Ruhr-Universität Bochum’s Convention Centre. It provides an attractive view over the green Ruhr Valley due to its location on the southern edge of the campus. The light-filled rooms are situated on one level and provide ideal meeting conditions for up to 800 people. MCIC 2025 will be held in room 2b. The poster session will be held in room 3.
Contact
In case you have further questions, please do not hesitate to correspond with the conference office.
Dr.-Ing. Felicitas Scholz
Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems
Research Alliance Ruhr
Universitätsstr. 150 | 44801 Bochum | Germany
Building/room ZGH 00/119
Phone: +49-(0)234-32-29919
Email: rcfems@uaruhr.de