BASF and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P)'s joint R&D operation, the Carbon Materials Innovation Center (CMIC) is now open at BASF’s Ludwigshafen site. The center hosts twelve chemists, physicists and material scientists and its goal is to research the scientific principles and potential applications of innovative carbonized materials by synthesizing and characterizing new materials and evaluating their potential uses in energy and electronic applications.
BASF and the MPI has been jointly researching graphene since 2008, and the new center is the next step in their collaboration, although it will research other materials as well. They have invested €10 million in this project, which is scheduled to run for three years initially.