12 November 2026
An international research team led by Prof. Christoph Brabec from Forschungszentrum Jülich aims to revolutionise the search for new materials. By combining artificial intelligence with a novel modular chemical system, the researchers hope to develop materials tailored to specific applications - and much faster than before. To pursue this ambitious goal, the team has been awarded a Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), one of Europe's most prestigious research funding schemes.
From high-performance solar cells and energy-efficient electronics to new energy storage technologies, technological progress depends heavily on the materials available. Yet finding materials with the right properties is often like looking for a needle in a haystack. The number of theoretically possible molecules is almost unimaginably large: estimates suggest that there could be as many as 10⁶⁰ functional molecular structures - a one followed by 60 zeros. That is far more than the estimated number of planets in the universe.
This enormous diversity offers immense potential, but only a tiny fraction has been explored so far. This is where the ODDITY (On-Demand DIscovery by Molecular IngenuiTY) project comes in. The researchers want to make the vast range of possible molecules systematically searchable, allowing them to discover new materials tailored to specific applications.
Three scientists have been awarded an ERC Synergy Grant for the six-year project: Prof. Christoph Brabec from the Institute of Energy Materials and Devices - Photovoltaics at Forschungszentrum Jülich and Chair of Materials in Electronics and Energy Technology at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Prof. Iain McCulloch from the University of Oxford, and Prof. Pascal Friederich from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Brabec will coordinate the project.
From trial and error to tailor-made materials
Developing new materials has traditionally been a lengthy process. Researchers investigate known molecules, make small changes to their structures and test whether they exhibit the desired properties. Finding a suitable candidate often requires numerous experiments. And even then, there is no guarantee that the molecule can actually be made.
ODDITY aims to fundamentally change this approach. Rather than developing a molecule first and then investigating its properties, the researchers want to start with the desired function and work backwards.
"We no longer want to limit our search to known molecular structures. Instead, we aim to design entirely new molecules with properties tailored to specific applications - while ensuring from the outset that they can actually be produced," explains Brabec.
Building molecules like Lego bricks
At the heart of the project is a new approach based on so called reversible modular chemistry. This involves chemical bonds that can be selectively broken and reformed rather than remaining permanently fixed. Much like Lego bricks, molecular building blocks can be assembled and rearranged in different combinations, allowing researchers to create new molecules in record time.
By combining thousands of carefully selected building blocks with hundreds of side chains - additional molecular components that can influence a molecule's properties - the researchers hope to generate an enormous variety of new molecules. Even a relatively small number of building blocks can be combined in countless ways. New functionalities can be introduced step by step, allowing the researchers to tailor molecules to increasingly specific requirements. With this approach, the team aims to expand the number of molecules that can be systematically explored from around 100 million today to one trillion - a 10,000-fold increase.
To identify the most promising candidates among these vast numbers, the researchers are turning to machine learning. They are developing adaptive computer models that can recognise relationships between molecular structures and their solid-state properties. These models will then be able to predict the properties of new combinations without the need to test each one individually in the laboratory.
The findings will feed into digital molecular libraries that, unlike conventional libraries, can be searched for specific properties. For example, researchers might want a material that absorbs light particularly efficiently while transporting electrical charges with minimal losses. AI can then help identify promising molecules that are most likely to meet these requirements.
But finding a suitable molecule is only part of the challenge. In a finished material, many molecules interact with one another, and their arrangement can have a major influence on the material's properties. A molecule might, for instance, be excellent at transporting electrical charges on its own, but perform much less effectively in a thin film, such as those used in solar cells, if the molecules are poorly arranged. ODDITY aims to account for these effects from the very beginning, reducing the risk that promising molecules fail to deliver when incorporated into real materials.
New materials in weeks rather than years
The potential applications are wide-ranging. Tailor-made molecules could, for example, help solar cells convert more sunlight into electricity or make electronic components more powerful and energy-efficient. In medicine, they could enable drugs to be delivered more precisely to where they are needed in the body. New storage technologies could benefit from molecules that store and release electrical charges more efficiently. The approach could also open up new possibilities for quantum materials, including those used in future computers that exploit particular electrical or magnetic properties.
The team's long-term vision is to dramatically speed up materials development: processes that currently take years could one day be completed in just a few weeks.
ODDITY could therefore break new ground in several ways. The novel modular chemical system is designed not only to accelerate the development of materials with specific properties. Because its molecular building blocks can be separated and recombined, it could also pave the way for fully recyclable functional molecules in the longer term - contributing to more sustainable materials development.
The close collaboration between Forschungszentrum Jülich and FAU at the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN), a branch of Forschungszentrum Jülich, played a key role in the development of ODDITY. The partnership brings together expertise from different research disciplines and provides the freedom to pursue innovative ideas flexibly across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. This collaboration is also reflected in the contribution of Dr. Larry Lüer, who is affiliated with both Forschungszentrum Jülich and FAU. He will bring his expertise in developing digital twins for molecular materials.
European funding for collaborative cutting-edge research
The ERC Synergy Grant is one of Europe's most prestigious research funding schemes. It supports teams of outstanding researchers working together to tackle particularly challenging scientific questions. The total funding of €9.7 million will primarily cover personnel and experimental costs. Forschungszentrum Jülich received its first ERC Synergy Grant in 2020 and has since secured six in total.
