Fraunhofer IMM

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft promotes and undertakes applied research in an international context, of direct utility to private and public enterprise and of wide benefit to society as a whole. 

By developing technological innovations and novel systems solutions for their customers, the Fraunhofer Institutes help to reinforce the competitive strength of the economy in their region, throughout Germany and in Europe. Their research activities are aimed at promoting the economic development of our industrial society, with particular regard for social welfare and environmental compatibility. The Fraunhofer IMM is part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft with currently 67 institutes.

Our scientists carry out research and development within the key competences 

• Decentralized and Mobile Energy Technology, a division which covers the entire technology chain with expertise in the areas of catalyst development and stability testing, process simulation, system design and control, development of cheaper fabrication techniques, reactor construction and complete system integration and testing. Besides the development of single components and complete fuel processing systems for conventional and regenerative fuels, other business interests lie in the fields of liquid hydrogen technology, exhaust gas treatment systems and biofuel syntheses.
   

• Continuous Chemical Engineering with the optimization or even reinvention of chemical production processes via the methods and devices of chemical micro process engineering. The core competencies range from the development and simulation based design of micro reactors to the realization of plants for lab, pilot and production scale. Further focus is process development based on microreactors and flow chemistry. 
  
  

• Medical Probes and Technical Sensors with the development of customer specific MEMS sensors and electrodes for signal detection. Comprehensive competencies in design and mathematic modelling of micro structured components and their system integration combined with a wide spectrum of micro fabrication technologies such as mechanical precision engineering, laser material processing, silicon and thin film technology are the unique feature. Applications range from industrial gas analytics to the analysis of liquids and liquid films up to medical diagnostics.
   

• Microfluidic Analysis Systems with the customer specific development of automated micro systems and components for medical diagnostics, environmental analysis, biological security applications, food quality control, industrial analytics and process control. With the help of simulation and micro structuring technologies we develop efficient biomedical diagnostic systems (lab-on-a-chip or micro total analysis systems) for manifold applications. Our micro system technology based systems allow a real-time analysis in terms of biological organisms, their building blocks or metabolites on-site at the point of care or point of use. 
  
  

• Nanoparticle Technologies with the production and characterization of nanoparticles with diverse attributes and application possibilities in medicine, pharmacy as well as in the consumer goods industry. Another area of expertise is bio-nano interfaces. The fabrication of Micro- and Nanocolloids with engineered interface for specific applications as well as the development and synthesis of intelligent polymer-based particles are further capabilities. Another focus is on analyzing nanoparticles of different materials under various conditions.  

The knowledge we gain and the developments which evolve from these fields are applied in the business areas Energy and Environment; Chemistry, Process Technology, Aviation and Aerospace; Biomedical Analytics and Diagnostics, Security as well as Industrial Analytics Applications. We build a bridge between basic research and application, because our developments pass through the institute beginning from the idea to the basic and application-oriented research to the point of their realization into custom built and market-ready results.

We are not just developing our applications for and with industry but we are also interested in further developing them in a project-oriented manner. We work together with industrial enterprises as well as with research institutions and universities to answer future questions in projects which are co-financed by the national government, the federal states and the European Union.