Materials and Energy ‐ New Directions for the “Energiewende” – 773. WE-Heraeus-Seminar

“Energy” and “Materials” have an overarching importance for the future development of our society. They are coupled in multiple ways ranging from fundamental science to real-world applications. Analyzing their intricate relationship as energy–materials nexus, however, is a new approach. On the fundamental physics side, the control of quantum processes in real time under non-equilibrium conditions will have practical implications for bringing the understanding and discovery of materials and the development of process design concepts to the next level. In the field of materials science, novel functional materials for energy conversion and storage and their processing towards usable devices (batteries, water splitting, fuel cells, catalysis) aims at efficient pathways for energy conversion and storage. This field benefits from a combination of fundamental understanding as well as combinatorial materials discovery and informatics to find new materials that combine application-related efficacy with availability on the level of raw materials.