Research

Thanks to their versatile and outstanding properties, ceramic materials play an important role in the energy and process transition. They are an integral part of many applications, e.g. as thermal insulation and protective coatings in corrosive atmospheres at high temperatures in gas turbines, as electrode materials and solid electrolytes in batteries and fuel cells or as thermoelectrics. The research focus of the Lepple working group is located in this context: the development and investigation of new, innovative high-performance ceramics for efficient energy conversion and storage.

In terms of application and material development, a precise understanding of the material system including phase stability and phase equilibria as well as knowledge of the energies and driving forces for the formation of stable and metastable phases is essential. The thermodynamic approach of the CALPHAD method (CALculation of PHAse Diagrams, computer-aided linking of phase diagrams and thermochemistry) forms a solid foundation in the development and investigation of new ceramics (and materials in general) and is a powerful development tool in materials (process) engineering. The special feature of thermodynamic methods is that they are not limited to the investigation of ceramics, but can be applied to all classes of materials. This gives the Lepple working group many points of contact with other research groups and a wide range of interesting questions.