New paper published in ACS Nano on the significantly reduced wear on a metal surface after electro-spray coating with MXene. The work was spearheaded by colleages from Austria (TU Vienna) and Saarland University (MECS), and capitalized on the synergy of collaboration between Austria, Chile, China, Germany, and the United States of America. Our work also was featured in the news, for example:

https://www.tuwien.at/tu-wien/aktuelles/news/2d-nanomaterial-mxene-der-perfekte-schmierstoff

https://cen.acs.org/materials/2-d-materials/MXenes-make-durable-solid-lubricants/99/web/2021/04

https://www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/story/2000125999939/neues-2d-wundermaterial-ist-der-perfekte-schmierstoff

New paper published in Cell Reports Physical Science on the use of a conventional fuel cell concept, enhanced by an additional flow channel, for the facile and continuous desalination of seawater. The device consumes oxygen and hydrogen gas and produced electricity, desalted water, and an acid/base couple which conveniently can be used to generate heat.

New paper published in Macromolecular Rapid Communications. Our collaborative with with colleagues from Saarland University (teams of Markus Gallei and Andre Schäfer) and TU Darmstadt shows the synthesis of polyferocenylmethylene and its properties (showcasing reversible electrochemistry).

New paper published in Chemical Communications on the synthesis and electrochemical application of titania-loaded carbon spherogels. This work continues our collaboration on spherogels with many scientists, foremost with Michael Elsaesser (see his website www.carbon-spherogels.com)

New paper published in Chemical Engineering Journal on the correlation of ion size / hydrated ion / pore size of sub-1-nm carbon pores. The work was done in collaboration with the team of Guang Feng (HUST, China). The work demonstrates how ion selectivity in mixed ionic systems cannot reliably be predicted by single-salt baseline testing. Also, we demonstrate the importance of durability testing since effects such as ion sieving may very well vary and change over time.

I gratefully acknowledge that today, my google scholar h-index reached a new, round number: 60! This is a great achievement and testament the hard work of our team and to our many collaborators!

https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=mLEj95MAAAAJ

New paper published in Macromolecular Rapid Communications on mechanochromic and pH dependend properties of dye loaded opal structures. This work was done in collaboration with Markus Gallei (Saarland University).

New paper published in ChemSusChem on the use of carbide-derived oxide for high performance lithium-ion battery application. The mechanochemical synthesis of the carbide is of particular interest because of potentially environmentally friendly processing route. This work was done in collaboration with Lars Borchardt (RUB).

New paper published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A on the use of antimony for water desalination. This may sound, at first, like a contradiction when considering that Sb is not stable in water; yet, the use of a ceramic membrane and an organic electrolyte environment engulfing the antimony electrode allows the stable and high-performance removal of sodium via the antimony – sodium – alloying reaction.