Polymorphism of Nano-Alcohol

08.04.2010
Pure alcohol (ethanol) exhibits polymorphism: Depending on the cooling rate it solidifies in a crystalline, orientational glass or structural glass state. As we report in Philosophical Magazine Letters this polymorphism is conserved upon geometric nano-confinement in tiny channels, a few nanometers across. However, the critical cooling rates, necessary in order to achieve the glassy phases, are two orders of magnitude smaller than in the bulk state. A pdf-copy of the manuscript can be found here.

Phase diagram of ethanol (bulk).

Start of TemplDisco

11.05.2010
Homepage of TemplDisco, a project directed towards an understanding of template confinement effects on discotic liquid crystals, went live.

ESRF Synchrotron Run

27.04.2010
Impressions from our most recent experimental synchrotron run at ESRF, Grenoble.

Template assisted growth of copper and semiconducting cuprous oxide

27.01.2010
Study on the use of mesoporous silicon as a template for metallic copper and semiconducting cuprous oxide deposition published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society.

X-MAS Hike 2009

18.12.2009 Christmas & Spicy Wine Hike
on the Panoroma Path (Perl, Saarland)

We enjoyed a beautiful hike on the Panorama path close to the border triangle Luxembourg-France-Germany (Perl, Saarland). Our traditional spicy wine break ("Glühweinschwenken") along with the sunny weather made even the quite low temperatures bearable. Press thumbnails to see more pictures of the trip or check Outings to see pictures from previous Christmas hikes.
  1. Anke's Promotion
  2. Spontaneous Imbibition - Surface Freezing - Monolayer Sticking
  3. PatrickBestTalk
  4. Optical Birefringence Study on Confined n-Hexane

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News

  • 06.10.2026 Multimodal synchrotron X-ray analysis of palm-leaf manuscripts

    Combining synchrotron X-ray scattering and fluorescence with machine learning, we identified structural and compositional signatures in historical palm-leaf manuscripts that discriminate between botanical genera and reflect their processing. The non-destructive approach provides a material science basis for provenance studies, complementing codicological and historical evidence. See our publication in npj Heritage Science and the press release.

  • 17.09.2026 A Tale of Two Waters: H₂O and D₂O Electrify Surfaces Differently

    Hydrophobic nanoporous silicon acts as a single platform for comparing three solid–liquid triboelectrification regimes: immersion–emersion, droplet contact, and pressure-driven pore intrusion, with H2O and D2O highlighting isotope-dependent electrical responses. Rather than providing one simple mechanism, the study published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C opens new questions about the molecular origins of water–solid electrification—and shows how isotope substitution can help uncover them. 

    J. Phys. Chem. C (2026) 130 (36): 12748–12756.
    https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.6c04134

     

  • 05.06.2026 Water, Clay and Carbon: A New Route to Sustainable Energy Storage

    🌎 Water, Clay and Carbon: A New Route to Sustainable Energy Storage - we demonstrate an all-water supercapacitor stable over 60,000 charging cycles. 

    💧⚡Can pure water store electrical energy? A research team within the Cluster of Excellence BlueMat – Water-Driven Materials has now shown that it can.

    🔋 By confining water within nanometer-sized channels in clay minerals, the team developed a supercapacitor capable of efficiently storing and transporting electrical charge with remarkable stability.

    💡 Read more in our latest press release ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dttmcBcQ

    Publication:
    Artemov, V. et al., All-water supercapacitor enabled by 1-nm clay channels, Nat Commun 17, 5014 (2026).

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-73924-1

  • 23.04.2026 Lehmann Prize awarded to Patrick Huber

    🏆 Congratulations to Patrick Huber on receiving the Volker Lehmann Prize for the most outstanding talk at the 2026 Porous Semiconductors Science and Technology Conference (PSST2026) in Naples, Italy.

    💧 His presentation, “Nature’s Blueprint: Water-Enabled Functions in Hierarchically Porous Silicon,” showcased key research directions of the Cluster of Excellence BlueMat: Water-Driven Materials. 

    🏆 The Lehmann Prize honors Volker Lehmann, who—together with Leigh Canham and Ulrich Gösele - co-discovered the quantum confinement effect in silicon.

  • 22.10.2025  Water as an energy carrier: nanoporous silicon generates electricity from friction with water

    Exciting news! Our new publication in Nano Energy presents a novel way for converting mechanical energy into electricity – by harnessing water confined in nanometre-sized pores of silicon as the active working fluid (press release).