Müllen, Fang Awarded Hamburg Science Award

Chemists Klaus Müllen at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) in Mainz and Xinliang Feng at the Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden and the Technical University of Dresden have been awarded the Hamburg Science Award 2017.

The theme of the award was energy efficiency. The scientists were honored by the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg for their research in graphene and its high-energy storage capacity. Graphene can be used for more efficient catalysts in the reaction of oxygen reduction reaction and hydrogen generation, allowing for a new generation of semiconductors. The functional material is especially suited for use in batteries and supercapacitors.

Müllen and Feng's application-oriented research made it possible to develop highly topical, energy-relevant components such as supercapacitors and batteries with a high energy density, short charging time and high long-term stability.

Feng is strategic chair for molecular functional materials of the Cluster of Excellence Center for Advancing for Electronics Dresden at the Technical University of Dresden. Previously, Feng worked as group leader also at MPI-P, where he received his doctorate in 2008. He obtained his bachelor's degree in analytical chemistry in 2001 and his master's degree in organic chemistry in 2004.

From 1989 until 2016, Klaus Müllen was director of the MPI-P in Mainz and headed the department of synthetic chemistry. Currently, he is a fellow at the Gutenberg Research College and heads the Graphenes Emeritus Research Group at MPI-P. Müllen studied chemistry at University of Cologne and was granted his doctorate by University of Basel. He obtained his habilitation at ETH Zurich.

The Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg was founded by the Federal State of Hamburg in 2004. It aims to promote interdisciplinary research across universities and nonuniversity research establishments and advocates dialogue between academia, the public and politics.