In the Circle of the Elite

Prof. Dr. Thorsten Gerdes is one of the most innovative minds in Germany. In September, together with two partners, he was nominated for the German Future Prize, the Federal President’s Prize for Technology and Innovation. Together with Dipl.-Ing. Friedbert Scharfe from Franken Maxit Mauermörtel GmbH & Co. and Dr. rer. nat. Klaus Hintzer from 3M-Dyneon, he had developed "ecopshere" - an innovative building insulation based on tiny hollow glass beads. Although the prize eventually went to someone else in late November, the development of "ecosphere" is continuing apace – in cooperation with the Deggendorf Institute of Technology DHT.

November 25, 2020 - Keylab staff and the press office were looking forward to this day in particular - and were disappointed in the end. "EUV lithography", which increases the performance of microchips with the help of ultraviolet light, finally won the race. "Their level of innovation was clearly more impressive," says a sober Thorsten Gerdes: "We only had an outside chance." But there was no hint of wistfulness, rather a matter-of-fact scientist's perspective - just as Gerdes only grinned at the hoopla that the press office staff, for example, had made about him and the prize. Gerdes thinks in terms of stages of development, not headlines, and yet: "Our development will only make it if it becomes known to the public, and this nomination has helped enormously," says Gerdes.

The three researchers and developers spent the summer preparing their presentation of "ecosphere" to the prize jury in complete secrecy - after all, nothing was allowed to become public before the nomination on September 9 in Munich. But once the interest of the media had been aroused, quite a few interviews were arranged, and shoots organized. "We tried to accommodate them all," says Dr.-Ing. Daniel Leykam, a research assistant at Keylab Glass Technology. Doctoral students from the Keylab were also involved - like here in the clip produced by ZDF editor Volker Erbert: Dominik Helling at the melting furnace, and Stefan Zelder at the device that blows the tiny hollow glass beads responsible for ecosphere's extraordinary insulation properties. Leykam reports, "Not only was it fun, it was really interesting to see our work through the lens of a TV journalist for once, and to appreciate what the public might find exciting about our work."

You can find the ZDF presentation clip broadcast in the ZDF “Mediathek”.

An outside chance indeed! "Ecosphere" was sprayable masonry plaster alongside robotic arms for use in vital surgery, and a garage-sized laser to multiply the power of computer chips. But an outside chance with direct relevance to everyone's lives. Millions of homes in Germany will need to be insulated if we are to meet our climate goals. Moreover, the properties of the sprayed "ecosphere" insulation go far beyond those of conventional insulation. Its superior insulation performance sustainably improves the energy balance of older buildings, can be easily sprayed onto facades in a time-saving manner, consists of purely mineral raw materials, and is therefore non-combustible. After its useful life, the material can be reused, completely in the spirit of the circular economy. And another highlight are the small air-filled and thus insulating hollow glass beads that replace building sand, a raw material that is in short supply worldwide. This saves valuable resources.

Only an extraordinary cooperation between business and science made the development possible. maxit as a medium-sized company in the construction industry, 3M - Dyneon as a global multi-technology company, and the University of Bayreuth, with its special expertise in glass technology, have bundled their competencies to find new approaches in energetic refurbishment.

However, the German Future Prize does not mark the end of the development of the innovative insulating material. Thorsten Gerdes heads Technology User Centre Spiegelau (TAZ) together with Prof. Harald Zimmermann from the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (THD), where he represents the glass technology research focus of the University of Bayreuth. This institute goes back to a joint initiative of the University of Bayreuth and THD in 2009, and forms an important building block in the long-standing cooperation between the two universities. Together with maxit and 3M, the next generation of glass-based building insulation is already being developed as part of this cooperation, with the aim of further improving its already outstanding material properties, and reducing the energy required to manufacture the hollow micro-glass spheres.