The TANIOBIS PhD Award for solid-state chemistry and materials research was presented to Dr.-Ing Janett Schmelzer and Dr Nicolas Zapp on the occasion of the 21st Lecture Conference for Inorganic Chemistry on 28 September 2022 in Marburg

Dr.Ing. Janett Schmelzer "in honour of her outstanding dissertation completed at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg entitled "Microstructure and properties of powder metallurgically manufactured V-rich V-Si-B alloys for high-temperature application". In her dissertation, Dr Schmelzer describes a novel approach to the presentation of different alloy variants of vanadium-based multiphase materials. By combining mechanical alloying with additive manufacturing in the form of laser cladding and selective laser beam melting in a powder bed, Dr Schmelzer was able to depict, consolidate and fully characterise unknown vanadium/silicon/boron composites that were previously inaccessible by other means. The work, supported by numerical simulations, represents an outstanding contribution to the development of new high-temperature materials and to improving the thermodynamic efficiency of gas turbines and opens up possibilities that go beyond those of nickel-based superalloys."

Dr. Nicolas Zapp "in honour of his outstanding dissertation completed at the University of Leipzig entitled "Rare Earth Heteroanionic Hydrides with Secondary O^₂- , F^- , and N^₃- Ions Related to the CaF₂ and K₂NiF₄ Structure Types". In his dissertation, Dr Zapp describes the synthesis of complex heteroanionic compounds of rare earth elements. The hydride ion, which can be substituted by the similarly sized oxide, nitride and fluoride ions, plays a decisive role here. He developed suitable synthesis routes and succeeded in accurately determining the positions of the anions in the solids by combining analytical methods. In particular, the combination of X-ray and neutron diffraction leads to high-quality structural determinations. Dr Zapp is thus making a significant contribution to our understanding of a very new class of substances. The derivation of structure-property relationships through knowledge of the exact structure is supported by theoretical investigations at a high level. It is foreseeable that the results will inspire further work on this class of substances, leading to novel materials with previously unforeseeable properties."

The H.C. Starck Tungsten PhD Award, donated by H.C. Starck Tungsten GmbH, for solid-state chemistry and materials research was presented to Dr Lukas Mai and Dr Philip Netzsch on the occasion of the GDCh Science Forum Chemistry 2021.

Mr Dr. Lukas Mai in recognition of his outstanding dissertation entitled: "Investigation of Amino-Alkyl Coordinated Complexes as New Precursor Class for Atomic Layer Deposition of Aluminum, Tin and Zinc Oxide Thin Films and their Application" for the pioneering contributions described therein to the development of a new class of precursors for the deposition of atomic layers of binary metal oxides, in particular aluminium oxide, at low temperatures.The dissertation was written in the working group of Prof Dr Anjana Devi at the Ruhr University Bochum.

Mr Dr Philip Netzsch in recognition of his outstanding dissertation entitled: "On Silicate-Analogous Materials - Synthesis and Characterisation of Novel Borosulfates" for the pioneering contributions described therein to the systematic development of a large number of new borosulfates, the rationalisation of the synthetic approach and the investigation of fascinating structure-property relationships. The dissertation was written in the working group of Prof. Dr Henning A. Höppe at the University of Augsburg.

The TANIOBIS PhD Award (formerly: H.C. Starck Tantalum & Niobium PhD Award) for solid-state chemistry and materials research was awarded on the occasion of the Online Lecture Conference for Inorganic Chemistry 2020 to Dr. Pascal Cop in recognition of his outstanding dissertation entitled: "CeO₂-based nanostructures as model catalysts for HCl oxidation". Dr. Cop's creative, in-depth and forward-looking work on CeO₂-based nanostructures represents excellent fundamental research and at the same time addresses a very topical and socially relevant issue, namely maximising the efficiency of chemical reactions, which, for example, enable efficient exhaust gas purification and are indispensable in large-scale industry. HCl oxidation plays a very important role from an environmental point of view. Dr Cop's investigations into the deactivation of the catalyst could in future contribute to the optimisation of catalyst materials for mass technologies and thus to the sustainability of various chemical processes.

The dissertation was written in the working group of Prof. Dr Bernd Smarsly at Justus Liebig University Giessen.

The H.C. Starck Tungsten PhD Award 2019 for solid-state chemistry and materials research was presented on the occasion of the GDCh Science Forum 2019 in Aachen in equal parts to Dr Heidi Schwartz and Dr Simon Kloß .

Dr. Simon David Kloß was honoured for his outstanding dissertation on the topic "The High-Pressure Metathesis Route for the Preparation of Rare-Earth and Transition Metal Nitridophosphates" and for the pioneering discoveries in the field of rare-earth and transition metal nitridophosphates described therein and for the development of a groundbreaking new method of high-pressure metathesis to open up new areas in nitridophosphate chemistry.