The DFG-Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN) focuses on nanostructures with optical, electronic, biological, and energy storage/conversion functions. The CFN Research Areas “A: Nano-Photonics”, “B: Nano-Electronics”, “E: Nano-Biology”, and “F: Nano-Energy” depicted in the figure obviously reflect this focus. These functions are also pursued in research area “C: Molecular Nanostructures”, however, with the yet more long-term vision of achieving these functionalities using atomically precise nanostructures via chemical synthesis routes.

Each CFN Research Area is composed of and divided into several projects (e.g., A1, A2, etc.). Many scientific collaborations between different CFN groups or different KIT institutes take place on the level of these projects.