Neutron Spin Echo study on confined liquids

September/October 2010


Neutron spin echo studies on the dynamics of polymers and alkanes confined in silicon nanochannels (published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters and in Macromolecules) indicate sticky boundary layers and anisotropic self-diffusion dynamics.

Three-stage disputation marathon

19./21./23.07.2010

Patrick mastered a three-stage disputation marathon within one week - Matthias and Simon successfully finished their PhD!

from left to right: Matthias Wolff, René Berwanger, and Simon GruenerMatthias Wolff, René Berwanger, and Simon Gruener (f.l.t.r.) proudly present their mortarboards from their PhD graduation. Congratulations!

Theses and disputation talks are available online!

Polymorphism of Nano-Alcohol

08.04.2010
Pure alcohol (ethanol) exhibits polymorphism: Depending on the cooling rate it solidifies in a crystalline, orientational glass or structural glass state. As we report in Philosophical Magazine Letters this polymorphism is conserved upon geometric nano-confinement in tiny channels, a few nanometers across. However, the critical cooling rates, necessary in order to achieve the glassy phases, are two orders of magnitude smaller than in the bulk state. A pdf-copy of the manuscript can be found here.

Phase diagram of ethanol (bulk).

Start of TemplDisco

11.05.2010
Homepage of TemplDisco, a project directed towards an understanding of template confinement effects on discotic liquid crystals, went live.

ESRF Synchrotron Run

27.04.2010
Impressions from our most recent experimental synchrotron run at ESRF, Grenoble.

  1. Template assisted growth of copper and semiconducting cuprous oxide
  2. X-MAS Hike 2009
  3. Anke's Promotion
  4. Spontaneous Imbibition - Surface Freezing - Monolayer Sticking

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News

  • 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.

  • May 2024 - At this year's PSST conference in Brno (Czech Republic) Stella Gries received the prize for the talk of the day. Congratulations to her and also to Manfred May for the 2nd place in the best poster award of the conference!