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Researchers at INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken, Germany, in collaboration with scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, have developed a new electrochemical process for extracting lithium ions from seawater. In ACS Energy Letters, the German-Chinese team led by Prof. Volker Presser presents the process, which on the one hand, requires little energy input and, on the other hand, ensures continuous separation of lithium.

In many processes in nature and industry, small objects form ordered layers in liquids on solid surfaces. Standard models describe the objects as spheres with homogeneous surfaces, but many particles have flattened sides – for example, if they are made of metal. Scientists at the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken and the University of Sydney have recently shown that such polyhedral particles form completely different structures than spherical particles. The properties of the resulting materials, and potentially their recyclability, are also distinct. The results of the research cooperation have now been published in the renowned journal Advanced Materials.

Eduard Arzt, Professor of New Materials at Saarland University and Scientific Director of the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials, was awarded the highest distinction of the TMS – The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society on the occasion of a research visit to the USA. At the invitation of the University of California in San Diego, he gave the Stanford S. and Beverly P. Penner Distinguished Lecture.

Superkondensatoren und Batterien sind Energiespeichertypen mit unterschiedlichen Vorteilen. Während Batterien mit hohen Speicherkapazitäten punkten, überzeugt bei den Superkondensatoren die kurze Ladezeit. Gibt es Schnittmengen bei den zugrundeliegenden Technologien? Lassen sich die Vorteile aus beiden Welten verbinden? Damit beschäftigt sich das Autorenteam um Prof. Volker Presser vom Saarbrücker Leibniz-Institut für Neue Materialien (INM) und Dr. Simon Fleischmann, Helmholtz-Institut Ulm (HIU), in ihrem Perspektivartikel im renommierten Wissenschaftsjournal Nature Energy.