The European research initiative BATTERY 2030+ is now getting going. The ambition is to make Europe the world leader in the development and production of the batteries of the future. These batteries need to store more energy, have a longer lifetime, and be safer and more environmentally friendly than today's batteries in order to facilitate the transition to a climate-neutral society.

Two talented young researchers at Empa will be given the opportunity to develop their own research area over a five-year period with the help of an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council: Marianne Liebi and Bruno Schuler are both concentrating on the investigation of nanostructures - but their research activities are going in two completely different directions.

Blue-green algae are among the oldest living creatures on Earth and have perfected the use of sunlight over billions of years. Empa scientists have now equipped these humble unicellular organisms with semiconductor coatings to create mini power plants, which supply biofuels and are photocatalytically active in sunlight. And what's best: The chemical reactions are circular - they form a sophisticated raw materials cycle.

In order to combat bacterial wound infections, Empa researchers have developed cellulose membranes equipped with antimicrobial peptides. Initial results show: The skin-friendly membranes made of plant-based materials kill bacteria very efficiently.

The think tank Avenir Suisse today presented its latest publication entitled "Sustainable Powertrain Technologies". The key message is clear: an openness towards different technologies is needed to achieve the climate goal of "net zero" - meaning CO2 emissions - by the year 2050. Among the authors are Peter Richner and Christian Bach from Empa.

Efforts are being made worldwide to combat the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Vaccines and protective masks are of prime importance. Empa researcher Peter Wick, Head of the Particles-Biology Interactions Laboratory in St. Gallen, talks to Empa Quarterly about recent antibody studies, which are crucial for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, and the next generation of textile protective materials that inactivate or even kill corona viruses.

The SDG Award 2020 of the Swiss Green Economy Symposium goes to a team from Empa and ETH Zurich led by Ingo Burgert and Tanja Zimmermann. The award recognizes the achievements of the researchers in the field of sustainable building with wood.

Aerogel is an excellent thermal insulator. So far, however, it has mainly been used on a large scale, for example in environmental technology, in physical experiments or in industrial catalysis.

Lithium-ion batteries contain salts rich in fluorine, which decompose in humid air to toxic, highly corrosive hydrogen fluoride. The hazardous nature of this substance makes recycling more difficult and more expensive. A research project entitled "Fluoribat" is now being launched at Empa to solve this problem. This could help to make the life cycle of a rechargeable battery less expensive and at the same time safer.

Topological materials are a new class of materials that could enable completely new types of electronic components and superconductors. In topological materials, electrons can behave differently than in conventional materials. The extent of these "exotic" phenomena depends on the so-called Chern number. New experiments have now shown that the theoretically predicted maximum value of the Chern number can be reached and even controlled in a real material.