After 2 years Covid-hiatus, the open day of Saarland University and the INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials returned full swing on May 21st. Our team was all amped up to tell our visitors all about energy materials, water remediation, and why there is no cooler profession than being a material scientist / chemist / engineer. We discussed […]
Dr. Samantha Husmann gives an oral presentation entitled “Ionic Liquid-Based Synthesis of 2D MXenes Nanocarbides” at the 2022 MRS Spring Meeting in Hawaii, USA (May 9th, 9 AM local time). Her presentation is part of the Symposium NM03—2D MXenes—Synthesis, Properties and Applications, organized by Babak Anasori (Indiana University-Purdue University), Christina Birkel (Arizona State University), Chong […]
Yuan Zhang has successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis titled “Permselective and ion-selective carbon nanopores and next-generation technologies for electrochemical water treatment”. Congratulations!
Welcome to our team, Amila Beganovic! Amila is a student at Saarland University and will support our research on next-generation battery materials.
New paper published in Advanced Sustainable Systems on the ion selectivity of MXene electrodes during electrochemical operation. The Tortoise and the Hare is a classic Aesop fable that we heard growing up. We learned that a clever strategy could win over physical advantages in any match of unequal rivals. In the day and age of […]
New paper published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. Our work entitled “Design of high-performance antimony/MXene hybrid electrodes for sodium-ion batteries” explores the synergy of the 2D nanomaterial MXene (conductive, nanotextured) and antimony (large sodium-ion storage capacity via alloying). This work is the latest outcome of our collaboration with the group and team of […]
Dr. Samantha Husmann was selected to attend the prestigious 2022 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. She is one of only 611 young scientists selected in a highly competitive process from across the globe. This year, the topic is chemistry, perfectly reflected by Samantha’s research on next generation electrochemical materials (including, but not limited to, Prussian blue […]
New paper published in Nature Energy entitled “Continuous transition from double-layer to Faradaic charge storage in confined electrolytes”. Our paper explores the fascinating world from ion electrosorption transitioning towards Faradaic processes when electrolytes are nanoconfined. This work was a collaboration with several groups, espcially the team of Veronica Augustyn (NC State), Yury Gogotsi (Drexel), Patrice […]
New paper published in Chemical Engineering Journal. The work with the title “Electro-assisted removal of polar and ionic organic compounds from water using activated carbon felt” was done in collaboration with the Department of Environmental Engineering at the UFZ site in Leipzig.
New paper published in Macromolecular Rapid Communications. The paper is entitled “Nanoporous block copolymer membranes with enhanced solvent resistance via UV-mediated cross-linking strategies” and was done in collaboration with the Gallei Group at Saarland University and partners at University of Freiburg and TU Darmstadt. The work is featured on the front cover of the journal.
New paper published in Advanced Energy Materials. Our work used densely carboxylated but conductinggraphene derivative (graphene acid) to enable effective operation without compromising the mechanical or chemical stability of the electrode. In our studies, we found a maximum performance of 800 mAh/g at a rate of 0.05 A/g and 174 mAh/g at 2.0 A/g. This […]
It was an honor to meet and talk with Saarland Minister-President (prime minister) Tobias Hans during his visit to INM. We discussed our research on alternative batteries and energy-efficient lithium-ion-battery recycling. Read more about the visit online and on LinkedIn (our LinkedIn, the INM LinkedIn, and the PM’s LinkedIn). We are grateful that, the very […]
New review paper published in Electrochemistry Communications. Energy-efficient technologies for the remediation of water and the generation of drinking water are essential to sustainable technologies. However, we cannot have sustainable energy technology without sustainable water remediation (and vice versa). Among many possible applications, large-scale seawater desalination is a much-needed step towards large-scale hydrogen generation via […]
New paper published in Cell Press Physical Science on the use of sub-nanometer pores for capacitive deionization to enable membrane-free seawater desalination. Big pores are mighty powerful when it comes to capacitive deionization (CDI). CDI is highly appreciated as a potentially energy-efficient desalination technology, rendering saline water into desalinated (potable/processable) water. However, once we move […]
New paper published in Desalination with the title “Particle size distribution influence on capacitive deionization: Insights for electrode preparation”. Our work explores the particle size dispersity of commercially available activated carbon. No activated carbon powder is “perfect”, that is, every powder contains (a bit) larger and smaller particles. Size separation allows to capitalize on “one […]
New paper published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. This work in collaboration with the teams of Markus Gallei and Guido Kickelbick (both at Saarland University) explores shear-induced co-assembly as a step towards creating unique (ordered) materials. The latter can be conveniently converted to metal oxide / carbon hybrids via thermal annealing. For example, titanium […]
New article published on the exploration of high entropy materials in the digital age in Advanced Energy Materials. This work was done in collaboration with the KIT (via Ben Breitung and Leonardo Velasco) and is being featured on the front title page.
New paper published in the AAAS journal Research on the use of hollow / nanosheet / needle-like cobalt hydroxide for the use for high performance electrochemical desalination. This material architecture allows for rapid ion removal and high stability in absence of strain-build-up. This work was done in collaboration with the team of Jie Ma at […]
New paper published in Journal of Physical Chemistry C on the origin of better long-term electrochemical performance of silica-pillared MXene. This unique material provides enhanced performance as an lithium-ion battery electrode (ca. 300 mAh/g at 20 mA/g rate). Although larger volume changes are seen for the pillared MXene, this is not a detriment to the […]
New paper published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials on the use of redox-responsive 2-aminoanthraquinone core-shell particles for structural colors and carbon capture. This work was done in collaboration with the group of Markus Gallei (Saarland University), Karin Jacobs (Saarland University), and T. Alan Hatton (MIT).