Welcome to the Institute of Nanotechnology


We conduct fundamental and applied research with a focus on innovation in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Our scientists collaborate within the institute and with partners around the world across the disciplines of physics, chemistry, and materials science, as well as biology and medicine.

Prof. Horst Hahn on University of Arizona CampusLeslie Hawthorne Klingler
Horst Hahn joins University of Arizona

Prof. Horst Hahn, former Executive Director of the Institute of Nanotechnology and KIT Distinguished Senior Fellow, began a new role as Special Advisor at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He will serve as the strategic architect for the university’s fusion energy research initiatives.

University of Arizona Press Release
Sketch and structure of an aromatic bismuth ring in a cobalt-based inverse sandwichKIT, Uni Marburg
Aromatic Bismuth-5 ring in a cobalt-based inverse sandwich complex

Researchers from KIT and the Philipps-Universität Marburg have isolated an all-metal aromatic bismuth ring sandwiched in a cobalt-based complex, defining a new era of aromatic compounds with potential applications in catalysis and electronic devices (Nature Chemistry, 2025).

KIT Press Release
The awardees Matthias H.  Tschöp and Stefanie Dehnen with Josephine and Hans-Werner Hector from the Hector Fellow AcademyMarco Schilling
Hector Science Award for Stefanie Dehnen

The Hector Science Award 2024 by the Hector Fellow Academy for Stefanie Dehnen (INT) and Matthias H. Tschöp (TU München) honours outstand­ing research in the fields of inorganic chemistry and mater­ial research (Dehnen) as well as diabetes and obesity research (Tschöp).

KIT Press Release
Sketch of the  global minimum and two low-lying isomers of Bi_18^- clustersAuthors, KIT
Remarkable stability of Bismuth-18 clusters to oxidation

Researchers from the US, China and the KIT have studied negatively charged bismuth clusters and found a remarkable stability of Bi-18 clusters to oxidation despite the existence of an unpaired electron. It suggests a structural route to larger clusters with interesting electronic properties.

Science Advances, Vol. 10, No. 44 (2024)
Schematic design principle of redox-mediated ASSLSBKIT, JLU, Peking University
All-solid-state Lithium–Sulfur batteries with ultrafast charging

Researchers from KIT, JLU Gießen and Peking University demonstrated an all-solid-state
lithium–sulfur battery (ASSLSB) with a redox mediator that displays ultrafast charging capability, high specific capacity and an ultrastable cycling performance. This might pave the way to batteries with high specific energy, high safety and low cost.

Nature 637, 846-853 (2025)
One out of a million: AI helps to identify new materials for highly efficient solar cellsKurt Fuchs/HI ERN
Inverse Design of perovskite solar cells using AI

A closed-loop workflow that combines high-throughput synthesis of organic semiconductors to create large datasets and Bayesian optimization to discover new hole-transporting materials with tailored properties for solar cell applications was used to identify and synthesize a series of high-performance molecules.

Science 386, 1256-1264 (2024)
Anastasia August at the Science Slam 2024 at Karlsruhe KIT, Anastasia August
Triple Science Slam success

Dr. Anastasia August won first prize in three Science Slams at Eislingen, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe with her talk about harvesting solar energy by example of a polar bear, demonstrating her impressive talent in science communication. We congratulate Anastasia to her success and are proud to have her in the INT team.

Science Slam Eislingen 2024
Photonic Space-Time Crystals allow better use of the  interaction of light and matter Xuchen Wang and Harbin Engineering University
Towards Space-Time Crystals in Photonic Materials

Researchers from INT in the group of Prof. Carsten Rockstuhl and Harbin Engineering University showed that the momentum band gap of photonic time crystals can be drastically expanded by temporal variations in a resonant material. The resonance can emerge from a suitably spatially structured material like an optical metasurface, thus paving the way towards the first experimental realizations of photonic time crystals.

Nature Photonics
Micrograph of a metamaterial supporting anomalous frozen evanescent phononsJonathan Schneider, KIT
Metamaterial displays anomalous frozen evanescent phonons

By introducing connections beyond nearest-neighbor elements researchers in the group of Prof. Martin Wegener managed to design a metamaterial using 3D laser microprinting that displays anomalous frozen evanescent phonons to achieve nonlocal stress and stretching response which could be used for remote mechanical sensing.

Nature Communications 15, 8882 (2024)
Picture of grain rotation in nanocrystalline Platinum KIT
Multiscale observations of grain rotation mechanisms in nanocrystalline materials

Researchers from INT together with colleagues from the China, Colombia and the US have combined in-situ scanning transmission electron microscopy and atomistic simulations to elucidate the mechanisms of grain rotation in nanocrystalline Platinum.

Science 386, 49–54 (2024)
Symposium FlyerKIT
Symposium "Innovative Minds & Inclusive Science"

This symposium aims to honor the scientific achievements of Prof. Annie Powell on the occasion of her 65th birthday through presentations by long-standing collaborators and friends, recognizing her strong commitment to equality and diversity with respect to gender and ethnicity.

Symposium website
Logo of the proposed DFG Excellence Cluster Chem4QuantChem4Quant
Proposal for Chem4Quant submitted

The newly proposed Cluster of Excellence Chemical Design of Highly Precise Quantum Architectures (Chem4Quant) is a collaboration of KIT, the University of Stuttgart and Ulm University. It aims at quantum architectures with molecular structures to develop novel quantum devices and to implement first components for the future quantum internet.

KIT Press Release
Logo of the DFG Excellence Cluster 3DMM2O3DMM2O
Renewal proposal for 3DMM2O submitted

The DFG Cluster of Excellence 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O) is a collaboration of KIT and Heidelberg University. It aims to establish scalable digital 3D Additive Manufacturing from the molecular to the macroscopic scale. This approach converts digital information into functional materials, devices and systems “made to order.”

3D Matter Made To Order web site
Logo of the DFG Excellence Cluster POLiSPOLiS
Renewal proposal for POLiS submitted

The DFG Cluster of Excellence Post Lithium Storage (POLiS) is a collaboration of KIT, Ulm University, the ZSW and the University of Giessen. POLiS aims to develop the necessary new battery materials and technology concepts beyond lithium for efficient and sustainable storage of electrical energy.

Post Lithium Storage web site
Prof. Maximilian Fichtner receives the Wissenschaftspreis of the City of Ulm from Ulm mayor Martin AnsbacherChristine Liebhardt, Uni Ulm
Maximilian Fichtner received the Wissenschaftspreis of the City of Ulm, Germany

Prof. Maximilian Fichtner, Director of the Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU) and since more than twenty years affiliated with the INT, was awarded the Wissenschaftspreis of the City of Ulm for his outstanding research on electrochemical storage and his contributions to scientific communication as an expert on this topic within the German speaking countries.

Chemie.de (in German)
Picture of Oliver Townrow and MVSOliver Townrow
Liebig Fellowship and YIG Prep Pro for Oliver Townrow

Dr. Oliver Townrow will start his independent career at INT, funded by both the VCI Liebig Fellowship and the KIT YIG Prep Pro funded fellowship. The Townrow research group will utilise the direct method metal vapour synthesis (MVS) to target novel complexes containing metals across the periodic table in their zero-oxidation state. These will then be explored as soluble Single-Atom Sources to prepare functional organometallics.

Atomic composition illustrating the cocktail effect and the lattice distortions in high-entropy materialsKIT
Review on High-Entropy Materials applications

This review by a collaboration of INT scientists on the recent research on high-entropy materials highlights their emerging potential in energy and electronic applications, based mainly on the intrinsic features of the "cocktail effect" and the lattice distortions of these materials. The emphasis lies on ionic and covalent ceramic materials.

Nature Reviews Materials
Cover picture of Chem4Quant proposalDr. Johannes Richers | Visual Science Communication
Cluster initiative Chem4Quant passes first selection round

The proposal "Chemical Design of Highly Precise Quantum Architectures" (Chem4Quant) was selected by the DFG expert council to enter a full proposal for the "Clusters of Excellence" funding line. The initiative by the KIT, the University of Stuttgart and the University of Ulm was headed for the KIT by Prof. Mario Ruben of INT.

KIT Press Release
Structural sketch of a nanoring formed of organometallic sandwich complexesNature / AOC, KIT
Cyclocenes - rings of organometallic sandwich structures

In organometallic chemistry, so-called sandwich complexes always displayed linear chain structures. Now researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Philipps-Universität Marburg have formed multi-level sandwich complexes into nanoscale rings and named them  "cyclocenes". The work has been published in Nature.

KIT Press Release
Picture of Stefanie DehnenStefanie Dehnen, KIT
Stefanie Dehnen wins the 2023 RSC/GDCh Lectureship in Chemical Sciences

For her pioneering research on molecular multinary cluster nanoarchitectures for applications in catalysts, white-light emitters, and battery materials Prof. Dr. Stefanie Dehnen was awarded the Alexander Todd-Hans Krebs Lectureship by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh).

RSC Announcement
Picture of Christopher Barner-Kowollik in a laboratoryQueensland University of Technology
Christopher Barner-Kowollik awarded the 2023 RSC Centenary Prize

Prof. Dr. Barner-Kowollik won the Centenary Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) for the development and photophysical understanding of precision macromolecular photochemistry, and for excellence in communication. He and his team developed the ‘action plot analysis’ to understand photochemical processes in the realm of polymer chemistry with never-before-seen precision.

RSC Announcement
Various 3D glass nanostructuresDr. Jens Bauer, KIT
3D printing of glass nanostructures

Using a hybrid organic-inorganic polymer resin as starting material the group of Dr. Jens Bauer succeeded in 3D printing of silicon dioxide nanostructures without the need of a high-temperature sintering process, as reported in Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.abq3037 )

KIT Press Release