Functional materials can be any type of specially designed material with a determined function: semiconductors, polymers, molecular crystals or nanoparticles are good examples of them. It is their special physico-chemical properties which make functional materials so special. A special type of functional materials are synthesized with a large surface to volume ratio, in order to maximize their interaction with the environment. Typical examples are functional surfaces and functional particles. The research on their synthesis and their characterization is crucial for future technologies.
The following research groups in the Max Planck Center work in this topic: