H. Martin R. Wilkening (Head of the Institute, member of the Senate) studied chemistry at the University of Hannover where he completed his Ph.D. thesis (summa cum laude, 2005) on "Ultraslow ionic motions in solids - NMR studies on lithium-ion conductors" under the supervision of Prof. i.R. Dr. Paul Heitjans. Subsequently, he was employed as a scientific co-worker in the same group and from 2008 as "Akademischer Rat a. Z.". In June 2011 he submitted his habilitation thesis to obtain the venia legendi in physical chemistry (mentor P. Heitjans). Shortly thereafter he accepted a full professorship at the Graz University of Technology (Austria) and received the venia docendi in solid state chemistry. In 2012 the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Battery Research was founded. Since 2016 HMR is director of the institute and served as a member of the senate of the TU Graz until 2022.

The Wilkening group focusses on the preparation, characterization and functionalization of new materials for modern energy storage systems. Emphasis is put on spectroscopic studies to shed light on micro- as well as macroscopic ionic transport processes in crystalline as well as amorphous solids. In particular, we use solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and conductivity spectroscopy to investigate short- as well as long-range ion dynamics in crystalline, nanocrystalline and amorphous phases that are relevant for, e.g., battery applications.