The Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids conducts fundamental research on metal-rich and/or intermetallic compounds and biomaterials.

The main research interests are:

• Intermetallic phases and transitions to covalent compounds
• Intermetallic compounds with strongly correlated electrons
• Utilization of the electron correlation for the design of new material properties
• Unconventional ordering phenomena (charge order, magnetic order, superconductivity), characterization of heavy-fermion compounds and spin-Peierls systems
• Quantum-critical phenomena, for example deviations from the Fermi-liquid behaviour
• Relation between structure and properties
• Development of new synthesis methods
• Phase equilibriums, phase changes, non-stoichiometry
• Valence conditions and chemical bonding
• Thermo electrics
• Catalytic properties (of intermetallic compounds)
• Biomaterials