Sustainability of and through materials

Nickel oxides accelerate hydrogen-based steel production by a factor of two more

Max Planck team participates in EU project exploring the influence of residual elements in recycled steel more

The mission of our group is to uncover the fundamental mechanisms of deformation and degradation in battery systems and to leverage mechanical principles to design damage-resilient energy storage systems. more

If manganese nodules can be mined in an environmentally friendly way, the critical metals needed for the energy transition could be produced with low CO₂ emissions more

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials have developed a carbon-free, energy-saving method to extract nickel for batteries, magnets and stainless steel. more

Hydrogen embrittlement remains a strong obstacle to the durability of high-strength structural materials, compromising their performance and longevity in critical engineering applications. Of particular relevance is the effect of mobile and trapped hydrogen at interfaces, such as grain and phase boundaries, since they often determine the material’s performance and can be embrittled by hydrogen enhanced decohesion (HEDE). This study focuses on dual-phase (DP) steels, where ferrite-martensite interfaces play a crucial role in hydrogen embrittlement. Hydrogen absorption triggers complex interactions at these interfaces on the nano- and micro-scale; however, existing studies, especially those addressing the behavior of both mobile and trapped hydrogen, have yielded inconclusive outcomes. more

Latest results now published in the journal Science Advances more

Max Planck scientists design a process that merges metal extraction, alloying and processing into one single, eco-friendly step. Their results are now published in the journal Nature. more

An economical process with green hydrogen can be used to extract CO₂-free iron from the red mud generated in aluminium production more

European Innovation Council supports a research project led by Technical University Darmstadt with 3 million euros more

Max Planck scientists explore the possibilities of artificial intelligence in materials science and publish their review more

Max Planck materials scientists use ammonia for sustainable iron- and steelmaking. They publish their latest findings in the Journal Advanced Science
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New video explains the benefits of ammonia as hydrogen carrier and reduction material for iron ores more

Researcher team led by Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung published latest findings in the journal Advanced Energy Materials more

In this EU Horizon project, we at MPIE, will focus on the sustainable pre-reduction of manganese ores with hydrogen, especially the kinetic analysis of the reduction process using thermogravimetry analysis and an in-depth understand the role of microstructure and local chemistry in the reduction process.
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Start of a collaborative research project on the sustainable production of manganese and its alloys being funded by European Union with 7 million euros more

International researcher team presents a novel microstructure design strategy for lean medium-manganese steels with optimized properties in the journal Science more

How iron can be used to store and transport energy more

New video explains how green hydrogen is produced more

Researcher team published recent findings in the journal Nature more