Press releases 2023

A new generation of lithium-sulfur batteries is the focus of the research project “MaSSiF – Material Innovations for Solid-State Sulfur-Silicon Batteries”. The project team dedicates itself to the design, construction and evaluation of lightweight and low-cost sulfur-based prototype cells with high storage capacities. Thanks to high storage capacities and low material costs, the sulfur-based concept potentially enables the construction of very lightweight and cost-effective batteries. Applying silicon as the anode material is also expected to significantly improve the cycle life of the battery cells. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden, will provide funding for six partners from science and industry with a total of nearly 2.9 million euros. The project was launched in February 2023.

Modern lightweight construction has already been helping automotive and aerospace industry to save fuel and materials and to reduce environmental impact. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS have recently found a way to transfer such proven design principles to oth-er industries. By using lasers, they weld filigree hollow chamber structures with cover sheets to form lightweight sandwich panels. Such metal structures can be produced particularly efficiently in the roll-to-roll process of the Fraunhofer IWS. The new technology ensures higher production speeds and a wider range of uses for lightweight panels. This opens up new lightweight construction perspectives, as in the construction of ship superstructures, railroads and facto-ry buildings.

The Fraunhofer-Zukunftsstiftung (Fraunhofer Future Foundation) is promoting scientific exchange between German and Ukrainian researchers to help repair war damage and prepare for rebuilding using climate and environmentally friendly technologies. To this end, the foundation is fully funding Ukrainian experts and their research activities with research stays of up to six months at Fraunhofer institutes in Germany. Oleksandr Proskurin, who has joined Fraunhofer IWS in Dresden, is the first visiting scientist from Ukraine to take part in the initiative.

Precise two-dimensional analysis of high-tech layers in microelectronics, battery factories or even in the automotive sector approaches within reach. A measuring system developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS facilitates this by integrating hyperspectral sensor technology, artificial intelligence and special illumination techniques into a high-performance, highly flexible inspection system. A team of researchers from Fraunhofer IWS establishes “DIVE imaging systems GmbH”, a BMWK-funded spin-off company, to commercialize this promising technology.

In its various disciplines and manifestations, design is increasingly gaining importance in Fraunhofer's research. Supporting this trend, the three Fraunhofer Institutes IVI, IWS and IWU in Dresden, together with Technische Universität Dresden, are establishing the “DesignLab for Applied Research” on behalf of the research community. Based in the Saxon state capital, the DesignLab will conduct design research in collaboration with all Fraunhofer institutes across the country, with plans to extend this work to the international level in the future. The DesignLab was officially inaugurated on March 8, 2023.

As part of the “SimPerm” project, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden have developed an innovative measuring technique for reliably determining the permeation rate of films. For the first time, the permeation rate of water vapor and oxygen can be detected simultaneously. Manufacturers, users and developers of barrier films can now determine the gas permeability of barrier films for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic solar cells, tablets, food and other air-sensitive goods more accurately, realistically and cost-effectively than before. On this basis, a partner company will soon establish a new class of instruments that can universally measure various barrier properties of films.

Radioactivity can save lives. When neither chemotherapy or surgery nor radiation from the outside help against a tumor, modern medicine uses so-called radiopharmaceuticals. These radioactive drugs not only detect cancer cells, they also enable targeted radiation from the inside to destroy the tumor. However, before such substances become available for use in humans, extensive animal testing is currently required during their development. A joint project of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) is currently researching an alternative method to this. Artificial organ structures and tumors in chip format form the basis for this.