Adsorption and Nanoporous Materials Characterisation

The research group Adsorption and Nanoporous Materials Characterisation focuses on the investigation of the phase and wetting behavior of fluids in pores/adsorbent interfaces, and on the surface and pore structural characterization of nanoporous materials. A main goal is to build a link between adsorption properties and characteristics of adsorbents, with processes and applications in important areas, such as gas- and energy storage, separations, and heterogeneous catalysis.

Main research fields:

Adsorption fundamentals
  • Investigation of adsorption mechanisms
  • Effect of confinement on the phase, adsorption and wetting behavior of fluids

Advanced adsorption and liquid intrusion techniques
  • coupled with data reduction methods based on statistical mechanics (e.g. NLDFT, QSDFT)
  • textural characterization of nanoporous materials

Novel methodologies for textural characterization and adsorption measurements
NMR Relaxometry: Spin-Spin relaxation of Silica particles immersed in water
  • In-situ adsorption calorimetry
  • NMR Relaxometry
  • Conductivity and electroacoustics
  • Inverse Size Exclusion Chromatography
  • X-ray Computed Tomography

 

Gas storage and separation processes
  • Assessing adsorption behavior of fluids (e.g. H2, CO2, mixtures such as CO2/CH4) in nanoporous materials with static and gravimetric techniques
  • High pressure adsorption

    High pressure CO2 adsorption at 293 K on NIST reference material RM 8852 (NH4-ZSM-5)

  • Dynamic adsorption/desorption experiments and measurement of breakthrough curves coupled with advanced molecular simulation
  • Investigation of Structure-Property-Performance Relationships (collaboration with the research area Advanced Separation Processes)

 

Literature

[1] Dantas S, Struckhoff KC, Thommes M, Neimark AV. 2019. Phase Behavior and Capillary Condensation Hysteresis of Carbon Dioxide in Mesopores. Langmuir. 35(35):11291–98

[2] Rasmussen CJ, Vishnyakov A, Thommes M, Smarsly BM, Kleitz F, Neimark AV. 2010. Cavitation in Metastable Liquid Nitrogen Confined to Nanoscale Pores. Langmuir. 26(12):10147–57

[3] Garcia-Martinez J, Xiao C, Cychosz KA, Li K, Wan W, Zou X, Thommes M. 2014. Evidence of Intracrystalline Mesostructured Porosity in Zeolites by Advanced Gas Sorption, Electron Tomography and Rotation Electron Diffraction. ChemCatChem. 6(11):3110–15

[4] Guillet-Nicolas R, Ahmad R, A. Cychosz K, Kleitz F, Thommes M. 2016. Insights into the pore structure of KIT-6 and SBA-15 ordered mesoporous silica – recent advances by combining physical adsorption with mercury porosimetry. New Journal of Chemistry. 40(5):4351–60