Producing traditional solar cells made of silicon is very energy intensive. On top of that, they are rigid and brittle. Organic semiconductor materials, on the other hand, are flexible and lightweight. They would be a promising alternative, if only their efficiency and stability were on par with traditional cells. Together with his team, Karsten Reuter,…
Rev Up the Nanomotor
Most people have never heard of them, and yet every living being needs them to survive: fine protrusions of cells known as cilia. They allow sperm to move, form fine protective hairs in the lungs, and play a crucial role in the differentiation of organs in embryos. A research team at the Technical University of…
Terahertz Electronics Help Close the Gap
A team headed by the TUM physicists Alexander Holleitner and Reinhard Kienberger has succeeded for the first time in generating ultrashort electric pulses on a chip using metal antennas only a few nanometers in size, then running the signals a few millimeters above the surface and reading them in again a controlled manner. The technology…
Sensors Printed onto Gummi Candy
Microelectrodes can be used for direct measurement of electrical signals in the brain or heart. These applications require soft materials, however. With existing methods, attaching electrodes to such materials poses significant challenges. A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now succeeded in printing electrodes directly onto several soft substrates. Researchers from TUM…
New Technique Battles Deadly Toxins
Pore-forming toxins are common bacterial poisons. They attack organisms by introducing holes in cell membranes. A team of scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now unraveled the mechanism of action for one of these toxins. The findings could help combat associated diseases and advance crop protection. Pore-forming toxins are bacterial poisons that…
Rapid, Cheap Test Chip Quickly Detects Legionella
In an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, finding the exact source as quickly as possible is essential to preventing further infections. To date, a detailed analysis takes days. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich have now developed a rapid test that achieves the same result in about 35 minutes. Legionella are rod-shaped bacteria that can…
Sensor Detects Calcium Concentrations Deep Inside Tissue
Key processes in the body are controlled by the concentration of calcium in and around cells. A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München have developed the first sensor molecule that is able to visualize calcium in living animals with the help of a radiation-free imaging technique known as…
Climate-Friendly Architecture Thanks to Natural Folding Mechanisms
Mobile components on buildings such as blinds whose design was copied from naturally occurring solutions — that is the subject of the research conducted by a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Freiburg, and the University of Stuttgart. The aim is to outfit them with drive elements that can move…
Proteome of the Human Heart Mapped for the First Time
A healthy heart beats about two billion times during a lifetime – thanks to the interplay of more than 10,000 proteins. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) and the German Heart Centre at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now determined which and how many individual proteins are present in each…
Tiny Velvet Worm Legs Get their Close-Up
Computer Tomography (CT) is a standard procedure in hospitals, but so far, the technology has not been suitable for imaging extremely small objects. In PNAS, a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) describes a Nano-CT device that creates three-dimensional x-ray images at resolutions up to 100 nanometers. The first test application: Together with…
Electrode Materials from the Microwave Oven
Power on the go is in demand: The higher the battery capacity, the larger the range of electric cars and the longer the operating time of cell phones and laptops. Dr. Jennifer Ludwig of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed a process that allows a fast, simple, and cost-effective production of the promising…
Study Optimizes Graphene Growth
Each atomic layer thin, tear-resistant, and stable. Graphene is seen as the material of the future. It is ideal for e.g. producing ultra-light electronics or highly stable mechanical components. But the wafer-thin carbon layers are difficult to produce. At the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Jürgen Kraus has manufactured self-supporting graphene membranes, and at the…
Blood Test Predicts Prostate Tumor Resistance
When bacteria develop antibiotic resistance, treatment with these medications becomes ineffective. Similarly, tumor cells can also change in such a way that renders them resistant to particular medications. This makes it vitally important for cancer patients and their doctors to determine as early as possible whether a specific therapy is working or not. A new…
Classical Mechanics Help Control Quantum Computers
Quantum technology is seen as an important future-oriented technology: smaller, faster and with higher performance than conventional electronics. However, exploiting quantum effects is difficult because nature’s smallest building blocks have properties quite distinct from those we know from our everyday world. An international team of researchers has now succeeded in extracting a fault tolerant manipulation…
Researchers Develop Supramolecular Materials That Disintegrate at a Predetermined Time
Biofuel from Waste
Fuel from waste? It is possible. But hitherto, converting organic waste to fuel has not been economically viable. Excessively high temperatures and too much energy are required. Using a novel catalyst concept, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now managed to significantly reduce the temperature and energy requirements of a key step…
Clear View on Stem Cell Development
Today, tracking the development of individual cells and spotting the associated factors under the microscope is nothing unusual. However, impairments like shadows or changes in the background complicate the interpretation of data. Now, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München have developed a software that corrects images to make…
Watching Cities Grow
Three million measurement points in one square kilometer: Prof. Xiaoxiang Zhu and her team have set a world record in information retrieval from satellite data. Thanks to new algorithms, the researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) succeeded in making four-dimensional point clouds of Berlin, Las Vegas, Paris and Washington, D.C. from images stacks…
A New Alternative to Graphene
Silicon nanosheets are thin, two-dimensional layers with exceptional optoelectronic properties very similar to those of graphene. Albeit, the nanosheets are less stable. Now researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have, for the first time ever, produced a composite material combining silicon nanosheets and a polymer that is both UV-resistant and easy to process.…
Antibodies as ‘Messengers’ in the Nervous System
Chemistry Stars Partner to Power New Applications
Many scientists consider graphene to be a wonder material. Now, a team of researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has succeeded in linking graphene with another important chemical group, the porphyrins. Porphyrins are well-known because of their striking functional properties which for example play a central role in chlorophyll during photosynthesis. These new…
Realistic Training for Extreme Flight Conditions
Missions at sea, in mountainous regions or close to skyscrapers are extremely risky for helicopter pilots. The turbulent air flows near oil rigs, ships, cliffs and tall buildings can throw a helicopter off balance and cause a crash. To provide pilots with optimal preparation for these challenging conditions, engineers at the Technical University of Munich…
Battery Research Reaching Out to Higher Voltages
For years, small rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have reliably supplied billions of portable devices with energy. But manufacturers of high-energy applications such as electric cars and power storage systems seek for new electrode materials and electrolytes. Michael Metzger, researcher at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has now developed a new battery test cell allowing to…
Entering the Field of Zeptosecond Measurement
Laser physicists in Munich have measured a photoionization — in which an electron exits a helium atom after excitation by light — for the first time with zeptosecond precision. A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a second (10^-21 seconds). This is the greatest accuracy of time determination ever achieved, as well as…
Material with Double Helix Structure Acts as Semiconductor
Flexible yet robust — this is one reason why nature codes genetic information in the form of a double helix. Scientists at TU Munich have now discovered an inorganic substance whose elements are arranged in the form of a double helix. The substance called SnIP, comprising the elements tin (Sn), iodine (I) and phosphorus (P),…