Materials Science & Nanotechnology


The University Alliance Ruhr’s key program Materials Chain bundles and strengthens the research activities in the field of materials science at the three universities of Dortmund, Bochum and Duisburg/Essen. The goal of the collaboration is to reach a complete and concise description of the whole materials chain – from atoms to finished technical components and vice versa. The expertise in this field at the three universities is internationally well-recognized and combines activities of more than 200 research groups. “Materials Chain” covers all stages of modern materials sciences from designing, manufacturing and refining of materials to their characterization and fashioning within production processes. Consequently, the “Materials Chain” is systematically applicable to various areas. Fore more information about projects, departments and affiliated research institutes, read more here. 

CENIDE

The Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CENIDE) represents one of the main areas of research of the University of Duisburg-Essen. One of Europe's most important nanotechnology clusters, CENIDE is home to more than 60 working groups of scientists working in the fields of natural sciences, engineering and medicine. One focus of research is nanoenergy – the use of nanotechnology for energy applications. At the NanoEnergyTechnologyCenter (NETZ), engineers, chemists and physicists collaborate on developing nanomaterials for new energy applications. Additionally, the Interdisciplinary Center for Analytics on the Nanoscale (ICAN) combines machines, methods and scientific expertise for analysis on the nanometer scale.

The Institute of Forming Technology and Lightweight Construction (Institut für Umformtechnik und Leichtbau, IUL) at TU Dortmund University develops original solutions for high quality structural components and energy- and cost-efficient manufacturing processes. These materials are used in the automotive industry.

DELTA, the Dortmund Electron Storage Ring Facility, is a 1.5 GeV electron accelerator facility at TU Dortmund University for non-destructive investigation of a variety of materials and samples. It provides synchrotron radiation to researchers from North Rhine-Westphalia.

At the Faculty of Chemistry at TU Dortmund University, new materials are created using peptides, proteins and nucleic acids to develop materials for tissue engineering and drug delivery as well as other applications.

At the Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation (ICAMS) and the Central Facility for Ion Beams and Radionuclides (RUBION) at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, scientists from the faculties of engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and earth sciences collaborate to pioneer research in the field of small-integrity systems and high-temperature materials. National and international collaborating partners include the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research (MPIE), the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research (KOFO), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), the University of Maryland (UMD), and the University of Tennessee (UTK), respectively.