Four German universities want to develop rare earth materials with extraordinary new properties.
Smartphones, electric motors and wind turbines: Numerous technologies require materials based on rare earths. A new special research initiative is now to investigate the chemical and physical properties of molecular rare earth compounds – areas that have been surprisingly little researched so far, writes the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which will coordinate the 4f for Future alliance. With the goal of developing materials “with unprecedented optical and magnetic properties,” a world-leading center is to be established, says KIT’s Professor Peter Roesky, spokesman for the research alliance.
In addition to KIT, Philipps University Marburg, LMU Munich, and the University of Tübingen are involved. The German Research Foundation (DFG) will fund the interdisciplinary alliance with more than ten million euros for four years starting in 2023.
One of the rare earth metals is thulium.
Photo: Peter Roesky, KIT
Featured image: iStock/Kkolosov
