Physical Chemistry

All material things around us (and we ourselves) consist of molecules. Molecules consist of atoms, atoms consist of electrons and atomic nuclei. Behavior of all these small parts of materia is determined by the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics.

Research at MMK focusses on the development of new solid-state NMR spectroscopic methods and their application to a broad range of materials including battery materials, solid-state lighting phosphors, catalysts, topological insulators, porous materials, glasses, and cements. Here, the emphasis on the development of new methods means that MMK has access not only to the state-of-the-art techniques, but also to many new methods that are in development and yet to be included in commercial systems. This makes solid-state NMR at MMK particularly well placed to answer the pertinent structural questions posed by each new material.

Within this area we also develop multiscale modeling methods ranging from fully atomistic ab-initio simulations to modeling of mesoscale structures formed by biological macromolecules and nanoparticles.