Highlights - Institute for Materials and X-Ray Physics

18.2.2013-22.2.2013 Wetting and Capillarity in Complex Systems

International Workshop, Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden (Germany)

5.12.2012 Kapillarsteigexperimente mit nanoporösen Gläsern

Nanofluidik untersucht mit Laborwaage und Stoppuhr (pdf), erschienen in der GIT Labor-Fachzeitschrift

11.5.2011

Evidence of sticky boundary layers and anisotropic diffusion in nanochannels published as Scientific Highlight in the annual report of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Neutron Research Reactor (Munich).

19.10.2011 Dr.-Eduard-Martin Award

Simon Gruener received the Dr.-Eduard-Martin award for his Ph.D. thesis from the friends of Saarland University.

6.2.2012 Capillary Condensation and Crystallization of Nitrogen in an Ordered Mesoporous Silica (SBA-15)

Sorption and calorimetric study on capillary condensation, freezing and melting of nitrogen in mesoporous silica published in Physical Review B (pdf).

Page 17 of 23

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

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).