Looking into the molecular structure of a sustainable future - New tools for better insights into complex materials

The solutions to many of society’s grand environmental challenges rely largely on the discovery and development of advanced materials. As an example, a necessity to improve fuel cells that hold a promise of clean, sustainable and highly efficient energy conversion attracted a great deal of attention from the scientific community. However, despite remarkable scientific effort, these fuel cells do not meet the high standards of stability and efficiency, as we are still missing crucial fundamental knowledge for further significant improvements.
This project delves into detailed understanding of the collective behavior of the molecules and their interactions at the microscopic scale: the application of novel infrared-based spectroscopy methods, will fill technical gaps in the characterization of complex materials and will provide highly anticipated knowledge about molecular dynamics on catalytic surfaces. These research results will then contribute to a more rational and knowledge-based development of sustainable, cheap and reliable fuel cells as a help to define optimal materials, their degradation causes and reach for the highest efficiency.