Highlights – Institute for Materials and X-Ray Physics

17.12.2014 Christmas trip to Chocoversum (Hamburg)

6.11.2015 Impressions of the International SFB-986 Workshop on "Hierarchical Multiscale Materials Systems", Hamburg (Germany)

28.3.2014 Study on the orientational order of a discotic liquid crystal confined in nanochannels published in Soft Matter.

2.6.2014 Study on the spatial variation of molecular dynamics in the nanoconfined glassformer methanol published in the Journal of Chemical Physics C.

26.2.2014 Study on protein adsorption in mesopores published in Langmuir.

"Protein Adsorption into Mesopores: A Combination of Electrostatic Interaction, Counterion Release and Van der Waals Forces" (pdf)

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News

22.05.2025 Cluster of Excellence "BlueMat: Water-driven materials" approved

BlueMat has been awarded funding through the Cluster of Excellence program (ExStra)!

Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and its partner institutions will receive funding totalling 70 million Euro. The application process was challenging: out of a total of 143 draft proposals for new clusters of excellence, only 41 were invited to submit a full proposal. In this second round, the new applications competed with the 57 already established clusters. Of a total of 98 applications submitted, only 70 were approved. The Cluster of Excellence will initially be funded for seven years until 2033.

We would like to thank all of our partners for their hard work. The whole team is energized and eager to begin bringing our vision to life. Stay tuned for updates as we embark on this exciting journey!
26.02.2025 Centre for Molecular Water Science (CMWS) inaugurated

The DESY-initiated CMWS is a Europe-wide research network in the field of molecular water research. The CMWS declaration has been signed by forty-seven founding members from twelve countries – including fourteen German universities and eight Helmholtz Centres. See also the corresponding press release.
18.11.2024 Ultrafast X-ray imaging at the European XFEL of a water droplet sucked into a porous silicon membrane by capillary action
12.09.2024 Article "Deformation dynamics of nanopores upon water imbibition" published in PNAS

Our article shows by a combination of experiments and computer simulations of water imbibition in nanopores that the competition between expansive, surface stress release at pore walls and negative, contractile Laplace pressures of nanoscale menisci lead to an unusual macroscopic behavior of the porous medium, which is generic for any liquid/nanoporous solid combination. The results allow one to quantify surface and Laplace stresses and to monitor nanoscale flow and infiltration states by relatively simple length measurements of the porous medium.
17.05.2024 - New publication: "Self-Assembly of Ionic Superdiscs in Nanopores"

Our study on discotic ionic liquid crystals has been published in ACS Nano - see also the DESY press release.