Check out our recent updates
Spring has arrived here with us!
We took the opportunity as a team to do a classic spring clean, something that is almost a tradition in Germany. It’s the perfect way to freshen things up for…
Wishing you a very Happy Easter
As spring brings fresh energy to Jena, we’re taking a moment to celebrate new beginnings. We wish all our partners, colleagues, and friends a peaceful and joyful Easter break. Warm…
Appointment to the Research Advisory Board of the Chemical Industry Fund (FCI)
Prof. Dr. Martin Oschatz, an associate researcher at HIPOLE Jena, has been appointed to the Research Advisory Board of the Chemical Industry Fund as of March 1. We warmly congratulate…
Job offers
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Postdoc (m/f/d) for Polymer and Colloid Characterization at HIPOLE Jena
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Postdoc (m/f/d) for automated polymer research at HIPOLE Jena
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Talents Community – Postdoc, PhD Student (f/m/d) for Polymers in Energy Applications at HIPOLE Jena
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Talents Community – Technician (m/f/d) at HIPOLE Jena
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Chemistry Internship opportunities for school and university students
The central strategic goal of HIPOLE Jena is the accelerated, knowledge-based development of sustainable polymer materials for scalable energy technologies.
HIPOLE Jena is based on three research pillars:
- Material design & synthesis
- Scalability, prototypes, and transfer
- Characterization, theory & modeling and data science
This triad forms the basis for 5 areas of the HIPOLE Jena research mission:
Polymer redox-flow batteries
Redox-flow batteries (RFB) are a special battery technology. In contrast to many other battery systems, with RFB the performance and capacity can be scaled independently of each other. RFBs are particularly interesting for stationary energy storage. As part of HIPOLE Jena, organic, polymer-based electrolytes are being investigated, which makes the use of critical metals/metal ions in the electrolytes obsolete.
Polymer-based thin-film batteries
The large area of organic electronics opens up many new application possibilities, such as in the area of smart textiles or the “Internet of Things”. In this context, polymer-based active materials and electrolytes allow the printing production of flexible, tailor-made batteries. In HIPOLE Jena, the next generation of these materials is being investigated, which should, for example, enable a longer lifespan.
Photovoltaics
Commercial photovoltaic technologies have reached the terawatt (TW) range in terms of installed capacity worldwide. There will continue to be a very high demand for photovoltaic systems in the next few years, requiring scalable technologies to meet the ever-growing demand. HIPOLE Jena is dedicated to perovskite solar cells. The use of polymers is intended to improve stability, for example.
Functional self-healing materials
Functional self-healing materials represent a special field of research. These can restore their original properties after damage. For example, in battery electrodes, the conductivity should be restored after damage to the electrode. Comparable approaches should also be used for solar cells.
Sustainable chemistry
In the plastic age, which is also strongly associated with the negative environmental impacts of plastics (e.g. microplastics), sustainability plays an important role. Therefore, the polymers for the various applications should be created based on sustainable resources and their recycling should be possible. For example, the use of CO2 as a building block for polymers plays an important role.