Sustainable harvesting of electrical energy with nanoporous materials (EU funding)

25.02.2021 Sustainable harvesting of electrical energy with nanoporous materials - Can phase transitions of water in nanopores be used to generate electrical energy on a larger scale? This is what we, within an international team of researchers, will be investigating in the European Union-funded research project "Energy harvesting via wetting/drying cycles with nanoporous electrodes (EHAWEDRY)", see additional details here (English/German).

Nachhaltige Gewinnung elektrischer Energie mit nanoporösen Materialien

 

Anisotropic confinement of chromophores induces second-order nonlinear optics in a nanoporous photonic metamaterial

09.02.2021 Second-order nonlinear optics, in particular Second-Harmonic Generation (SHG) is the base for a large variety of devices aimed at the active manipulation of light. Within an European collaboration we demonstrate that embedding chromophores in conical silica nanopores results in a photonic metamaterial exhibiting SHG, see the article entitled "Anisotropic confinement of chromophores induces second-order nonlinear optics in a nanoporous photonic metamaterial", published in Optics Letters.

 

"Precursor Film Spreading during Liquid Imbibition in Nanoporous Photonic Crystals" published in Physical Review Letters

01.12.2020 Optofluidic study on liquid imbibition dynamics entitled "Precursor Film Spreading during Liquid Imbibition in Nanoporous Photonic Crystals" has been published in Physical Review Letters. The paper resulted from a collaboration with Luisa Cencha, Claudio Berli and Raul Urteaga from Argentina.

 

"Giant electrochemical actuation in a nanoporous silicon-polypyrrole hybrid material" published in Science Advances

30.09.2020 Silicon Flexes Muscles: Our article "Giant electrochemical actuation in a nanoporous silicon-polypyrrole hybrid material" has been published in Science Advances, see also a press release by DESY (English/German) or listen to the podcast episode "Künstliche Muskeln - Poröses Silizium dehnt sich auf Knopfdruck aus", Forschung Aktuell - Deutschlandfunk (05.01.21).

 

Article "Ionic liquid dynamics in nanoporous carbon: A pore-size- and temperature-dependent neutron spectroscopy study on supercapacitor materials" published

27.05.2020 Our article "Ionic liquid dynamics in nanoporous carbon: A pore-size- and temperature-dependent neutron spectroscopy study on supercapacitor materials" has been published as Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review Materials.

 

 

Ionic liquids imbibed in nanoporous carbons are promising hybrid materials for electrochemical energy storage, conversion and harvesting. These functionalities crucially depend on the ionic mobility in the pore space. Here we demonstrate that quasielastic neutron scattering, specifically the so-called fixed energy window experimental technique, is particularly suitable for a fast access of the confined ionic liquid’s dynamic landscape as a function of pore-size and temperature. Compared to the bulk we find reduced self-diffusion mobilities. However, despite this slowing-down, the temperature range of the liquid state upon nanoconfinement is remarkably extended to much lower temperatures, which is beneficial for potential technical applications of such liquid-infused solids.

 

  1. Book "Soft Matter in Geometrical Confinement" published
  2. Self-Assembly of Liquid Crystals in Nanoporous Solids for Adaptive Photonic Metamaterials
  3. Minisymposium: Fluids in Nanoporous Media
  4. DASHH PhD Student Position

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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.