This year's Heinz-Leuze Prize goes to four scientists from the Research Institute for Precious Metals and Metal Chemistry fem in Schwäbisch Gmünd. This was announced at the opening event of the ZVO Surface Technology Days in Leipzig on September 14, 2022.
Robin Arnet, Dr. Ann-Kathrin Egentenmeyer, Herbert Kappl and Dr. Heidi Willing will receive the 1000 euro prize and a solid silver medal for a publication on silver dispersion coatings with self-lubricating properties , which was published in the January 2021 issue of the journal Galvanotechnik.
The prize has been awarded since 1985 for a publication in a specialist journal in German-speaking countries with a particularly clear and didactic presentation of an important technical-scientific problem. From next year, the prize money will be doubled to 2000 euros, making the prize one of the most highly endowed awards in the industry.
The laudatory speech for this year's Heinz-Leuze Prize was given by Prof. Andreas Bund, Head of the Department of Electrochemistry and Electroplating at Ilmenau Technical University. In his speech, Prof. Bund expressed his expectation that silver dispersion coatings with integrated lubricant particles will be of particular importance in the upcoming age of electromobility, as these coatings are particularly suitable for use in current-carrying connections in electrical energy technology. The forward-looking coating technology was also discussed by the authors with the deposition and characterization of silver coatings with graphite, hexagonal boron nitride, MoS2, WS2, Bi2S3 and SnS2 at a high scientific level and in a very well didactically prepared manner. The fem researchers followed a methodically and logically very well-structured experimental program, he affirmed. The aim of the experiments was to incorporate the various particles homogeneously and agglomerate-free into a silver matrix with volume fractions of 10 %.
Prof. Bund praised the authors for their excellent contributions to the enhancement of galvanic processes for future-oriented applications in electrical energy technology. Robin Arnet accepted the prize from Prof. Andreas Bund and Britta Kraft, representing the Leuze family, on behalf of the four authors.
