Highlights - Institute for Materials and X-Ray Physics

31.8.2018 Elastocapillarity in Nanopores

Study on sorption strain from the actions of surface tension and surface stress published in Physical Review Materials.

5.8.2018 Oil Imbibition in Nanopores
Study on silicone oil imbibition has been published online in "Transport in Porous Media": Capillarity-Driven Oil Flow in Nanopores: Darcy Scale Analysis of Lucas-Washburn Imbibition Dynamics.

25.6.2018 TUHH@DESY
Students and staff of Hamburg University of Technology visited Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) and enjoyed a tour across the campus and the PETRA III beamlines guided by Milena Lippmann and Oliver Seeck. A few impressions can be found here.

5.2.2018 Quantized self-assembly of liquid-crystalline nano rings, pubished in Physical Review Letters. See the press release of TUHH (English, German) and DESY (English, German).

May 14-17, 2018 Minisymposium: Fluids in Nanoporous Media

organized by Gennady Gor and Patrick Huber at the 10th International Conference on Porous Media (InterPore meeting), May 14-17 2018 in New Orleans, USA.

Read more: Minisymposium on InterPore 2018 in New Orleans

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News

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).
29.09.2025 Colossal Effect of Nanopore Surface Ionic Charge on the Dynamics of Confined Water

In a recent publication, we report a particularly rewarding result from a French-German collaboration linking Hamburg, Rennes, Grenoble and Paris, with key neutron scattering experiments carried out at the high-flux neutron reactor of the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France.

We show that water behaves very differently when confined to tiny nanopores—and that surface charge makes all the difference. Adding ionic charges to pore walls dramatically slows down water motion, not just in the vicinity of the pore wall but throughout the entire pore. This long-range control goes far beyond simple wetting effects and highlights surface charge as a powerful tool for using water as a nanoscale working fluid in water-driven materials, membranes, and nanotechnologies.
09.09.2025 When symmetry breaks in tiny spaces

Nanopores unlock hidden chirality in exotic liquid crystals – with the observation now made by us within an international cooperation with Ukraine, France and Poland, they might find even wider usage in energy storage or conversion or tunable lenses (see press release).
22.05.2025 Cluster of Excellence "BlueMat: Water-driven materials" approved

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

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.