The document can be downloaded from the TORE repository.
Abstract
This thesis marks the culmination of research activities on pore-confined and nanostructured matter that lasted over a decade. It starts with a comprehensive overview of studied porous materials as well as nanostructured surfaces. Nanoscale wetting is the first scientific core topic of the thesis. It elaborates on how X-ray scattering techniques in combination with nanosculptured substrates are utilized to validate the Augemented Young-Laplace equation on sub-10 nanometer length scales. The crystal structure of nanoconfined solids is at the forefront of the second core topic. As a highlight, elastic neutron scattering studies evidence quasi-single crystalline growth of deuterium nanocrystals in porous silicon. Studies on the dynamics in nanostructured matter are the third pillar this thesis rests on. Diverse topics are covered such as molecular diffusion in pore-confined liquids and phonon propagation in mesoporous silicon. Studies on the thermal transport in spark plasma sintered porous silicon culminate in a novel model for the thermal conductivity of structured, porous systems. The thesis closes with a list of the key publications that emerged from these fascinating studies.
