Martin Stratmann


Martin Stratmann is a German electrochemist and materials scientist. He is one of the directors at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung in Düsseldorf since 2000 and heads its department of Interface Chemistry and Surface Engineering.
Stratmann has been president of the Max Planck Society since June 2014 after having been its vice president from 2008 to 2014.

Professional career

After finishing his Abitur in 1973 at the grammar school in Traben-Trarbach, and after his military service, Stratmann studied chemistry at the Ruhr University Bochum. Stratmann received his diploma about NMR-analysis of the diffusion of anions and cations in SrCl2 in 1979. He did his doctorate on the topic of electrochemical analysis of phase transitions in corrosion layers at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung in 1982. Between 1983 and 1984 he continued his research at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland as a scholarship holder of the Max Planck Society. After his return to the MPIE, he worked until 1987 as a scientific assistant in the group of corrosion science. In 1987 he became head of this group. In 1994 Stratmann was appointed to a professorship for corrosion and surface engineering as a successor of H. Kaesche at the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg and remained there till 1999. In 2000 Stratmann returned to the MPIE as a scientific member and director of the department "Interface Chemistry and Surface Engineering". Two years later he was chosen to be the chief-executive.
From 2006 until 2008, Stratmann chaired the chemical-physical-technical section of the Max Planck Society and was appointed vice president of the Max Planck Society in 2008. He is the manager of the Minerva Foundation, an affiliate of the Max Planck Society, since 2008.

Research interests

The research interests of Martin Stratmann concentrate on electrochemistry and corrosion science. He connects electrochemical, spectroscopic and interface analytical methods and was the first one who used the scanning Kelvin probe technique in corrosion science. With this method he was able to show that electrochemical reaction analysis is possible even under ultrathin electrolytic films and non-conducting coatings. With the help of the Kelvin probe, Stratmann was able to explain the atmospheric corrosion of iron and iron based alloys, and the de-adhesion of polymer coatings of reactive metallic surfaces. With the insight that the formation of electrochemical elements and especially the reduction of molecular oxygen is the key factor to understand the stability of metal-polymer bonds, Stratmann and his team developed new interface-chemical concepts to increase the stability of these bonds which finally lead to self-healing processes of defect interfaces. These concepts were also transferred into industrial applications.

Other activities

Stratmann is a fellow of the Electrochemical Society and member of Acatech and the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts. Together with Allan Bard, he is editor in chief of the comprehensive encyclopedia of electrochemistry.