Highlights - Institute for Materials and X-Ray Physics

14.11.2022 Hamburg scientists win North German Science Prize: The Centre for Multiscale Integrated Materials Systems (CIMMS), a materials science centre in which our institute is involved, receives the North German Science Award 2022. Here you can find the corresponding press release in German and here a short summary on Instagram.

09.11.2022 Our joined work with the research group of Philippe Coussot (Université Gustave Eiffel, Paris) on drying of mesoporous silica glass using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was published in Physical Review Applied.

08.09.2022 Poster Prize for Zhuoqing Li: Congratulations to Zhuoqing Li for winning the poster prize with his presentation entitled "Structure and Textural Transitions of an Ionic Liquid Crystal in Nanoporous Solids" at the annual meeting of the Condensed Matter division of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) in Regensburg, Germany.

01.09.2022 Aqueous Electrolytes in Nanoporous Media: Structure, Dynamics and Electrochemo-Mechanical Actuation: See press release of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) on a new collaborative DFG-NSF project between the group of Gennady Gor (NJIT), Michael Fröba (University of Hamburg) and us.

12.04.2022 Feierliche Eröffnung des Centre for X-ray and Nano Science (CXNS) Gebäudes in der Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld. Hier gibt es eine Aufzeichnung des offiziellen Teils mit den Forschungsministerinnen Stark-Watzinger, Prien und Fegebank. DESY-Pressemitteilung. Three research ministers open Centre for X-ray and Nano Science at DESY, see the DESY press release here.

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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.