Water is a resource and is used for cooling or as a solvent. Water is also indispensable in industrial production. Environmentally compatible processing of water now is subject of the 'Eco-UV' research project funded by the EU with €3.9m under the 'Horizon 2020' programme. Within the framework of the project, KIT engineers plan to develop efficient UV emitters and long-lived electronic systems.

A key part of our future renewable energy mix will be wind energy, and a new German-based project is aiming at improving the planning, development and acceptance of wind power plants. Experts will study the interaction of acoustic and seismic vibrations of wind power plants and will generate a model to compute both emissions. TremAc is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

Raindrops attenuate propagation of electromagnetic waves. This physical phenomenon is being utilised by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) meteorologists. Using a specially developed software, they have derived information on rainfall from radiation fluctuations along radio links of mobile radio networks. This technique complements conventional measurements and could be applied for water management in countries with only a few weather statio...

So far, PhotoDynamic Therapies (PDTs) have been dependent on oxygen in the tissue. But hardly any oxygen exists in malignant, rapidly growing tumours. A group of researchers of KIT and the University of Kiev has now developed a photo-switchable molecule as a basis of an oxygen-independent method. Their successful laboratory tests on tumours are reported in the journal “Angewandte Chemie” (Applied Chemistry).

The region of Karlsruhe is a renowned location of research and industry in the area of mobility. The alliance ‘Profilregion Mobilitätssysteme Karlsruhe’ (Karlsruhe priority region for mobility systems) now pools the competences of the research partners in the region for the development of efficient, smart and integrated mobility solutions.

A new partnership has been forged between the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Phyton Biotech to help the treatment of cancer, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease using substances produced by plants.

Worldwide growing data volumes make conventional electronic processing reach its limits. Future information technology is therefore expected to use light as a medium for quick data transmission also within computer chips. Researchers under the direction of KIT have now demonstrated that carbon nanotubes are suited for use as on-chip light source for tomorrow’s information technology, when nanostructured waveguides are applied to obtain the ...

Researchers have discovered a so-far unknown mechanism for the formation of cavitation bubbles by the means of model calculation. In the Science Advances journal, they describe how oil-repellent and oil-attracting surfaces influence lubricant flow. Depending on the viscosity of the oil, a vapor bubble forms in the transition area between oleophobic and oleophilic domains. This so-called cavitation is known to damage material of e.g. ship propelle...

In 2015 alone, more than 500 offshore wind turbines were connected to the grid in Germany. So far, mutual interactions of wind parks and their potential effects on local climate have been approximated with models only. Thanks to their wide installation, however, it is now possible for the first time to study their effects in reality: Wind parks are in the focus of the research project “WIPAFF – Wind Park Far Field” that is coord...

Scientists succeeded in integrating a laser with an organic gain medium on a silicon photonic chip. This approach is of enormous potential for low-cost biosensors that might be used for near-patient diagnosis once and without any sterilisation expenditure similar to today's strips for measuring blood sugar. The researchers now present the new laser in Nature Communications.

The ForHLR high-performance computer of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) offers high computing capacity and an innovative visualisation technology for latest simulation methods. The computer can be used by researchers from all over Germany to calculate complex problems in new dimensions. Operation of ForHLR was started officially by the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Science, Theresia Bauer and the President of KIT, Professor Holger Ha...

Partners of industry and research are now developing a tool chain for efficient, standardised, and real-time-capable programming under the EU consortium ARGO that is coordinated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Development is based on the open source software Scilab. More and more safety-critical embedded electronic solutions are based on rapid, energy-efficient multi-core processors.

A carbon-based active material produced from apple leftovers and a material of layered oxides might help reduce the costs of future energy storage systems. Both were found to have excellent electrochemical properties and stand for the environmentally compatible and sustainable use of resources. Now, these materials are presented by researchers of the Helmholtz Institute Ulm of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in the journals ChemElectroChem and ...

Nanotechnology, the ability to manipulate structures on an atomic level, has the potential to revolutionise our world. From creating artificial skin that allows the user to “feel,” to using nanoscopic algae “backpacks” to deliver chemotherapy treatment, it is a technological field that constantly breaks new ground. 

Recently, Google started the Sunroof project, a service that calculates potential energy savings of home owners due to solar facilities on their roofs. However, this project covers a few cities in the US only. Scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and European partners have now finished the EAGLESolar research project. It covers the same activities in European cities and takes into account local conditions. Among the test regions ...

Smouldering cables are a frequent cause of fires. However, new sensors that analyse the plastic vapours released by overheated insulating cables are helping detect these fires at an early stage. Scientists at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences have developed these hybrid sensors that combine measurement processes with data evaluation. A smouldering cable can be detected with a little luck before it starts burning.

New research from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is developing methods to evaluate data from complex energy supply systems and identify optimisation options. Extension of future-proof energy systems is one of the major challenges faced by society in the next decades. These energy systems will have to be able to flexibly cope with different inputs from renewable energy sources and fluctuating demands. For this purpose, complex compute...

Scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are working on the development of a new process for hardening steel. With the help of methylamine, they enrich low alloy steels with carbon and nitrogen. Low pressure carbonitration with methylamine saves time and process gas. The steels hardened in this way are suited for use in components subjected to high mechanical and thermal loads in energy efficient and low emission engines of the f...

In Germany the concept of energiewende (the country’s transition to an energy portfolio dominated by renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable development), inherently includes smart energy use. However, there is not yet any storage system that could be used by industry to efficiently recover braking energy of the many machines in Germany.

The production of energy from natural gas without generating carbon dioxide emissions could fast become a reality, thanks to a novel technology developed by researchers of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).