Research

Materials scientists at FAU have achieved a new record in the performance of organic non-fullerene based single-junction solar cells. Using a series of complex optimisations, they achieved certified power conversion efficiency of 12.25 percent on a surface area measuring one square centimetre.

When bones break more easily in old age, osteoporosis is often to blame. However, the cause of the disease and how it develops is not yet sufficiently understood. An interdisciplinary team is now developing a new imaging process with funding from an ERC Synergy Grant worth 12.3 million euros.

The FAU observatory owns approximately 40,000 historical photographic plates, a genuine treasure trove for anyone interested in stargazing. Approximately 70,000 glass plates have now been digitalised and published online.

Ageing and a low life expectancy are caused, at least partly, by oxidative stress. A team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Ivana Ivanović-Burmazović from the Chair of Bioinorganic Chemistry at FAU, together with researchers from the USA, have discovered that zinc can activate an organic molecule, helping to protect against oxidative stress.

Global sea level is rising constantly. One factor contributing to this rise is the melting of the glaciers. However, although the surface area of the glaciers has been well mapped, there is often no information regarding their thickness, making it impossible to calculate their volume. As a result, we cannot accurately calculate the effects on sea levels. Dr. Johannes Fürst has developed an approach which can be used to draw up regional ice thickness maps for glaciers.

Researchers at FAU are investigating healthy ingredients in beer win the research grant from the European Foundation for Alcohol Research and the European Brewery Convention, worth 60,000 euros.

Combining two statistical methods that are fundamentally different. Dr. Elisabeth Waldmann from FAU has received the Freigeist Fellowship from the Volkswagen Foundation for her innovative and unusual research project.

There was not a single paper mill in Amsterdam until the 19th century. Despite this fact, it was the location of the most important centre of the paper industry in Europe in the 17th and 18th century and Prof. Dr. Daniel Bellingradt from the Institute of Book Studies is conducting research to find out why.

Advancing scientific collaboration and allowing experience to be gathered in an international environment – just two of the objectives of the MIT Germany Program, an initiative of the renowned MIT, in which FAU is also involved.

Nanoparticles are to be used like transporters to deliver medication in a targeted manner exactly where it is required in the human body? The nanoparticles should react to ultrasound frequencies. This is what FAU researchers are currently working on.